Description

LUPPITT BEACON
ST 10 NE
6/70 Pulmans Farmhouse
-
GV II
Farmhouse. Early - mid C16, with major later C16 and C17 improvements, part was
demolished probably in the C19, thoroughly renovated circa 1980. Local stone and
flint rubble; stone rubble stacks topped with plastered brick; interlocking tile
roof, formerly thatch.
Plan and development: 3-room plan house facing south-east and built down the
hillslope. The room uphill the right (north-east) end has a gable-end stack and the
centre room has an axial stack backing onto the small left end room which is now
used as a kitchen.
In fact what remains is the former inner room parlour, hall and passage of a 3-room-
and-through-passage plan house; the present kitchen occupies the former passage and
the service end room has been demolished. The former passage front and back
doorways are now blocked and the present doorway is in the left (south-west) end.
Originally the hall (now the middle room) at least was open to the roof and heated
by an open hearth fire. The hall fireplace was inserted in the mid or late C16 and
a chamber over the passage was built at the same time jettying into the lower end of
the hall flush with the front of the chimneystack. The hall was floored over in the
late C16 - early Cl7. The inner room was rebuilt, and probably enlarged, in the
early or mid C17 as a parlour and at this time the hall was probably downgraded to a
kitchen.
2 storeys.
Exterior: regular 2-window front of circa 1980 mullioned windows and the oven
housing projects towards the left end. The roof is gable-ended to right and hipped
to left. The doorway on the left end is towards the rear. The door and the
verandah that end date from circa 1980.
Good interior: between the former passage/present kitchen and hall is a short
section of an oak plank-and-muntin screen and it contains one jamb of a shoulder-
headed or arch-headed doorframe. It is probably part of an original low partition
screen. The large hall fireplace has Beerstone ashlar jambs with panelled cheeks,
an oak lintel and chamfered surround. The inserted oven was relined in the C19. At
the upper end of the hall there is a probably late C16 - early C17 oak plank-and-
muntin screen; its muntins chamfered with step stops high enough to accommodate a
bench below. The hall crossbeam is chamfered with pyramid stops. A winder stair
rises against the back wall behind the hall stack. The inner room is early - mid
C17 and has a chamfered and scroll-stopped crossbeam and the fireplace is plastered
stone with a plain oak lintel.
On the first floor at the head of the winder stair there is a tiny oak doorframe
with pointed ach head into the chamber over the hall. This looks very like a
doorway for ladder access to the passage chamber from the open hall. At the other
end of the hall chamber there is a late C16 - early C17 oak doorframe with cambered
head and chamfered surround with step stops. The hall roof is carried on a side-
pegged jointed cruck which the owner reports is smoke-blackened (the roofspace is
inaccessible).

Listing NGR: ST1778805102

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26593780

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

• 
  Old House Care and Repair
• 
  Farrow & Ball How to Decorate: Transform your home with paint & paper
• 
  Warwickshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair