Listed Building: LOWER HOUSE FARMHOUSE AND ADJOINING STABLE (1215514)

TWITCHEN SS 7830-7930 17/219 Lower House Farmhouse and adjoining - stable GV II Farmhouse. Mid-C17, possibly incorporating an earlier core, with mid-C20 alterations. Mid-to late C19 stable. Cement-rendered cob and stone. Gable-ended asbestos-slate roof, with half-hipped wheatstraw thatched roof over left-hand end. Slate roof over lean-to additions at rear. C17 stone stacks with weatherings and C19 red-brick tops. Stone rubble stable with red-brick dressings, rendered to front, and gable-ended corrugated-iron roof. Plan and development: C17 probable 3-room and cross passage plan, facing west (site falls to right). Hall with external lateral stack to rear, probable former cross passage and service room to right with integral end stack, and former inner room (present kitchen) to left with integral end stack. Probably C18 one-roomed addition to left. Lean-to dairy at rear of left-hand end, probably a C18 or C19 addition. Small C19 lean-to addition at rear of right-hand end too. Front door inserted in former inner room, probably when left-hand end room added. Staircase between central hall and right-hand room, probably inserted in a former cross-passage. Front eaves of C17 range raised at some time, possibly when house was refenestrated in the mid- C20. Stable added at right-hand end in the mid-to late C19. The plan suggests that this might be a C17 remodelling of a late-Medieval hall house. Two storeys with one- storey lean-to additions. Stable of one storey and loft. Exterior: Asymmetrical 4-window front. First-floor C20 centre-hung metal casements to right. Ground-floor C20 two-light metal casement to right. C19 two-light wooden casement to hall and C20 top-hung metal casement to present kitchen. Small ground- floor 2-light wooden casement to left-hand end. Cross passage doorway off-centre to right, with C19 boarded door, C19 chamfered wooden frame wooden lintel and C19 gabled porch on shaped brackets. C19 boarded door to kitchen at left, also with chamfered wooden frame. Stable adjoining to right with two C19 two-light wooden windows and central C20 half-height boarded door with wooden lintel. Lateral stack to rear of house with chamfered offsets. Boarded loft door to rear of stable. Interior: Hall with C17 ovolo-moulded cross beam. Probably C18 segmental arched recesses flanking fireplace to rear with triple keys. C18 plaster ceiling. C18 six- panelled doors from entrance lobby to left-and right-hand rooms, with beaded pegged moulded architraves. Old boarded door between hall and left-hand room (present kitchen). Kitchen with rough-hewn cross beams, and C17 fireplace at rear with splayed stone jambs, wooden lintel and C19 mantelshelf. C19 bench alongside right- hand wall. Old boarded door leading to diary at rear of kitchen, with old strap hinges. First-floor C18 six-panelled doors too. Roof-space not inspected. Listing NGR: SS7894630404