Description

MOLLAND STONE CROSS
SS 8028-8128
20/93 North Stone Farmhouse, shippon
20.2.67 adjoining to west and garden walls
adjoining to front
GV II
Farmhouse and adjoining shippon. House of c.1550, altered in the early to mid - C17,
probably including partial restoration and additions. Minor C18 and mid - to late
C19 alterations and additions. Mid - to late C19 adjoining shippon, possibly
incorporating some earlier fabric. Rendered, probably mainly over cob with additions
in random stone rubble. Gable - ended asbestos - slate roof, formerly thatched.
Welsh-slate roofs over outshuts at rear with C20 bituminous covering. Dressed-stone
square stacks with weatherings, that to front with chamfered offset and tapered cap
too. Stone rubble shippon with some cob to rear and half-hipped Welsh-slate roof.
Plan and development: Three room and cross passage plan, facing south. Ground falls
to left. Late Medieval open-hall house, formerly consisting of hall with inner room
(present kitchen) to right and cross passage to left with former service room (since
demolished) beyond. Formerly open to the roof, continuously from end to end with
rooms probably divided by low partitions C17 alterations included the insertion of
the first floor, the addition of the external lateral stack to the front wall of the
hall and the former end stack to the inner room, and probably also the addition of
the outshut at rear of hall and lower end, incorporating staircase at rear of hall
and dairy at rear of cross-passage. Dividing cob walls rising to eaves level
inserted in the C17, possibly replacing low wooden screens. Great chamber probably
formed over hall in the C17 (note higher ceilings). Former service room demolished
at some time, probably in the C17 or C18 and lean-to added at rear of inner room,
probably also in the C18. The inner room end has been extended at some time,
probably in the C19, (the extent of the lean-to additions to rear probably indicate
the length of the house before the extension of the right-hand end. Shippon
adjoining to left, mainly late C19 but probably incorporating some earlier C17 or C18
work. It stands on the site of the putative service room and might even incorporate
some fabric of that date. Two storeys, with one-storey outshuts additions at rear.
Exterior: Asymmetrical 3-window front with projecting lateral stack to left of centre
with tall stone shaft; late C19 and C20 two-light small-paned wooden casements. Wide
former cross-passage doorway to left with C19 boarded door and large wooden frame.
C20 half-glazed kitchen door between first and second windows from right with late
C20 lean-to glazed porch. C17 outshut to rear with 2-light wooden staircase window
below eaves to left and wooden cross window to dairy at right. Lower lean-to
addition (see straight joint) to left with late C20 wooden casement to left and 2-
light small-paned wooden casement in left-hand return with wrought-iron bars and
pegged frame. Shippon adjoining to left (west) with boarded loft door to front and
right and central ground-floor 2-leaf boarded door with small C20 casement to right.
Probably C19 stone walls enclosing small garden to front. One-storey lean-to at
front to left with 2 stable-type doors and C20 metal casements.
Interior: Central ground floor room (former hall) with plastered C17 deep-chamfered
cross beam and half beams, mid - C20 brick fireplace surround with large opening, and
C18 cupboard in right-hand wall with raised and fielded panelled doors and H hinges.
Old boarded door to cross passage with strap hinges. Front door of cross passage
with old strap hinges on inside. Dairy to rear of passage (partly in lean-to and
partly in rear of passage) with old door and low slate shelves. Former inner room
(kitchen) with plastered C17 deep-chamfered cross beams and half beams, and bench
along left-hand wall. Small dairy at rear of later addition to right with plain
wooden beam and low slate shelves. C17 dog-leg stair in outshut to rear of right-
hand end of hall. Old (probably C17) doorway between top of stairs and room in
roofspace of outshut, with boarded door and old frame with chamfered head. Door to
left-hand bedroom of c. 1700 with 2 raised and fielded panels. Other old boarded
doors and C18 or early C19 4-panelled doors.
Notably complete late-Medieval smoke-blackened 4-bay roof (2-bays over hall),
consisting of 4 side-pegged jointed cruck trusses (one in left-hand end wall formerly
between cross passage and service end before the house was truncated, each with
cranked collar (removed from left-hand end truss) and mortice and tenoned apex; pairs
of trenched purlins and diagonally-set ridge-piece. Largely complete survival of
smoke-blackened rafters and battens too. The truss over the cross passage appears to
be less blackened than those directly over the hall. Due to higher first-floor
ceilings it was not possible at the time of survey to inspect closely roofspace over
the centre and right-hand end of the house. Lower floor level in the bay over the
former cross passage, possibly once used as a storage loft (see boarded door in left-
hand end truss, leading to loft over adjoining shippon). Piece of reused C17 carved
panelling reused in truss in left-hand end wall. Roofspace over addition at right-
hand end not inspected at time of survey.
This house is notable for having one of the best preserved smoke-blackened Medieval
roofs in the parish.

Listing NGR: SS8132028171

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26577293

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

• 
  Staffordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects by Harwood, Richard (2012) Paperback
• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990
• 
  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Renovating Old Houses: Bringing New Life to Vintage Homes (For Pros By Pros)