MDE21380 - Lower House Farmhouse, Twitchen (Building)

Lower House Farmhouse and adjoining stable. Farmhouse. Mid 17th Century, possibly incorporating an earlier core, with mid 20th Century alterations. Mid to late 19th Century 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. 17th Century stone stacks with weatherings and 19th Century red-brick tops. Stone rubble stable with red-brick dressings, rendered to front, and gable-ended corrugated-iron roof. Plan and development: 17th Century 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 18th Century one-roomed addition to left. Lean-to dairy at rear of left-hand end, probably a 18th or 19th Century addition. Small 19th Century 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 17th Century range raised at some time, possibly when house was refenestrated in the mid 20th Century. Stable added at right-hand end in the mid to late 19th Century. The plan suggests that this might be a 17th Century 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 20th Century centre-hung metal casements to right. Ground-floor 20th Century two-light metal casement to right. 19th Century two-light wooden casement to hall and 20th Century 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 19th century boarded door, 19th Century chamfered wooden frame wooden lintel and 19th Century gabled porch on shaped brackets. 19th Century boarded door to kitchen at left, also with chamfered wooden frame. Stable adjoining to right with two 19th Century two-light wooden windows and central 20th Century 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 17th Century ovolo-moulded cross beam. Probably 18th Century segmental arched recesses flanking fireplace to rear with triple keys. 18th Century plaster ceiling. 18th Century 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 17th Century fireplace at rear with splayed stone jambs, wooden lintel and 19th century mantelshelf. 19th Century bench alongside right-hand wall. Old boarded door leading to dairy at rear of kitchen, with old strap hinges. First-floor 18th Century six-panelled doors too. Roof-space not inspected. [1] The buildings were visited in September 2012 as part of the rapid condition survey of Exmoor's Listed Buildings 2012-13. The farmhouse received a BAR score of 6 and the stable a score of 5. [2]