Description

OVER STOWEY

1873/0/10012 Parsonage Farm
01-NOV-07

II
House, formerly a farmhouse. Mid- to late C16, extended in the C17 and early C19.

MATERIALS: Rubble stone walls, part lime-washed and part rendered. Brick wall to C19 infill between south wall of north wing and stair turret. Tile roofs and brick stacks. The fenestration comprises mostly replacement timber casements, C20 uPVC windows and several C17 mullioned windows, now blocked, but exposed.

PLAN: Essentially a U-shaped plan. The earliest part of the house is considered to be the south rear wing to which a three room through passage range of single depth (lower end to left, north) was added in the late C16. This is aligned north - south and is the principal range to the house. The building was up-graded in the early C17 when the front range was extended slightly to the south to accommodate a new parlour and chamber above; the rear stair turret was added; and the north rear wing. There are C20 lean-to additions on the north and south sides which are not of special interest. Adjacent to the house, to its north and east, are the former farm buildings, including a shelter shed, cartshed, stable block and dairy.

EXTERIOR: The main (west) elevation is of four bays with an off-centre entrance and C19 porch of brick and timber. There is a window opening to the left of the entrance, two to the right, and three to the first floor. The north gable wall has a single storey lean-to to with a casement window above. To the left is the three bay northern rear wing. A lean-to conservatory has been added along part of this elevation. The rear (east) wall of the wing has a central external brick stack with a casement window to the right and a buttress to left. There is a window to either side of the stack at first floor. The return wall has a doorway and a C17 flat mullioned timber window of at least four lights. This has recently been uncovered, but the lights remain blocked. A second mullioned window has been uncovered to the left. Between the two wings is a full height stair turret, added in the early C17. It has a six-light ovolo moulded, mullioned window. The north wall of the south wing has a wide doorway with a buttress to the left; the rear (east) wall is also buttressed and has a C19 window opening to ground floor and one above. The return has largely C20 openings to the ground floor and C19 ones at first floor, characterised by brick tile sills. A C20 single storey lean-to conservatory occupies much of this elevation. The roof of the front range was heightened in the early C19 and this alteration can be seen in the stonework to the upper part of the south gable end. This elevation has a C20 doorway to the ground floor and an uPVC window to first.

INTERIOR: The through passage and the left hand room now form a single room containing an open-fire basket fireplace and slightly concave chamfered ceiling beams with step and run-out stops. The right hand beam has regularly spaced peg-holes marking the position of the former timber partition screen to the passageway. The central room has a large inglenook fireplace, though the bressumer is a replacement. It is possible that a recess flanking the east end of the fireplace marks the position of an early winder stairs. The room also has a six panel, framed ceiling of deeply chamfered beams. It does not extend the full width of the room and it is likely that this was originally a smaller room which was enlarged in the C17 when the parlour (right hand room) was extended. A C17 flat-headed doorway in the east wall of the central room has ovolo moulded surrounds and run-out stops to the jambs. It leads through to the south wing. The parlour has moulded coving and an inglenook fireplace. This has been reduced in size at its left (east) end when a French door was inserted in the south wall in the C20. The hearth itself has been blocked and replaced with a smaller opening. The wooden bressumer to the original hearth, although missing its east end, remains visible and has an ovolo moulding.

The south wing which is considered to be the earliest part of the house has deeply chamfered ceiling beams with step and run-out stops, an open fireplace in the south wall, and a blocked window in the north wall. There are drainage channels have been cut into the floor of the eastern half of the room and it has been suggested that at some stage this wing was used as a dairy or cheese room. The rear stair turret is sited between the two wings and has a fine late C18 or early C19 staircase. The chamber above the parlour has a decorative plasterwork over mantel to the south wall which depicts Adam and Eve and probably dates from the early C17. The right hand side of this panel is angled, reflecting the original roof pitch prior to the early C19 rebuilding. The roof of the front range could not be inspected, but is understood to be of more recent construction, superimposed over earlier trusses which have a mortice and tenoned apex, tenoned collars and butt purlins. The north wing has similar trusses. The roof carpentry in the south wing consists of trusses with cambered collars; at the west end is a closed truss of staves and wattle and daub.

SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: Attached to the north side of the house is a former single storey stable block. It is built of rubble stone, although the dressings to the windows and central gable, which contains a stable door, are brick and appear to be C19 insertions. The interior has been converted into a pottery studio but retains a cobbled floor. Opposite is a former cartshed, also with rubble stone walls; the king post roof is a late C20 replacement.

HISTORY: Parsonage Farm lies on the site of a medieval and post-medieval rectory. Documentary sources indicate that in 1239 the land passed from Stogursey priory to the Bishop of Bath and Wells; it was exchanged in 1326 with St Mark's Hospital in Bristol, for lands elsewhere. In about 1541 the rectory passed to the Mayor and commonalty of Bristol. Parsonage Farmhouse is a late C16 or early C17 house on the site of the former rectory. Field investigation has shown that earthworks to the north of the house are possibly the remains of a post-medieval ornamental garden associated with the house that was then re-planted as an orchard. Sources and an analysis of the historic fabric indicate that the current house was enlarged in the C17. It underwent further alterations and remodelling in 1816. The city corporation sold the estate to a tenant in 1840, and by 1919 it had been absorbed into the Quantock Estate.

SOURCES
Somerset Vernacular Building Research Group, Parsonage Farm (2005)
J. Ayres, ed. The Diary of William Holland, A Somerset Parson, 1799-1818 (1984)
H. Riley, Historic Landscape of the Quantocks (2006)
C.R. Elrington, The Victoria County Histories of England ¿ Somerset (1992), pp 163

REASON FOR DESIGNATION DECISION: Parsonage Farm is listed in grade II, for the following principal reasons:
* The grouping is made up of a late C16 and early C17 through passage house with rear wings and has an intact and legible plan form
* This multi-phased former farmhouse preserves much original fabric in a range of local vernacular building materials
* Decorative detail to the house includes C17 plasterwork over mantel, some C17 windows, fireplaces and carpentry

Reasons for Listing

DCMS agree, 'Yes, list'

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26671522

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Surrey (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects by Harwood, Richard (2012) Paperback
• 
  Listed Buildings, Conservation Areas and Monuments
• 
  Cambridgeshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)