Description

SX 69 SE SOUTH TAWTON

4/152 Livaton Farmhouse
including garden walls adjoining
22.2.67 to north
GV II

Farmhouse. Early or mid C16 with major later C16 and C17 improvements,
superficially but thoroughly refurbished in the early C19. Plastered cob on stone
rubble footings; cob and granite stacks, 2 of them still with their original
granite ashlar chimneyshafts with moulded coping; thatch roof.
Plan and development: basically an E-plan house. The main block faces north. It
has a 4-room-and-through-passage plan. 2 service end rooms on the right end. The
outer one is unheated (probably once a dairy) and the other a kitchen with a large
axial cob stack backing onto the end room. Former hall to left of the passage has a
large lateral stack projecting forward. A small section of the upper end has been
divided off as a storeroom. The left end room in fact is the rear room of a 2-room
parlour crosswing projecting to rear and with a disused axial stack between and it
contains the remains of a newel staircase. Early C19 stairblock projecting to rear
of the passage. A third rear wing projecting at right angles to rear of the kitchen
and dairy and its stack backs onto the main block. The historic development of the
house cannot be worked out in detail since much of the early fabric was hidden by
plaster in the early C19. Nevertheless the hall was originally open to the roof and
heated by an open hearth fire. The parlour wing, if not original, is very early. It
appears to have been floored and have had a stack from the beginning. The hall
fireplace was probably inserted in the mid or late C16 and it was floored in the
early or mid C17. The service end appears to have been rebuilt in the mid or late
C17 and the rear wing of this end added at the same time. Whole house was
modernised in the early C19 when the main stair was added. House is 2 storeys
throughout.
Exterior: the walls still retain sections of early C19 plaster render which is
incised as ashlar and includes flat stucco architraves to the windows and doorway.
Irregular 5-window front of C19 and C20 casements, some with glazing bars and others
with rectangular panes of leaded glass. Main roof is hipped each end. To rear is
the garden front. The parlour and stair wing roofs are hipped the service wing is
half-hipped. Most of the windows here are C19 and C20 casement with glazing bars
but the hall has an early C19 French window and a 16-pane sash above, the stair wing
has a tall 18-pane sash, the chamber over the kitchen has a late C17-early C18 flat-
faced mullion window and the outer side of the service end wing has a C17 oak 2-
light window with chamfered mullion.
Interior: much of the interior is the result of the early C19 modernisation. For
instance the passage and hall show only features of this date and main stair is open
string with shaped stair brackets, stick balusters and mahogany handrail. The
kitchen fireplace is,blocked but the crossbeam is soffit-chamfered with runout stops
and there are late C17-early C18 panelled cupboards here. Service staircase is late
C17-early C18 with early C19 balustrade at the top. Dairy has plain chamfered
crossbeams. Service rear block has a soffit-chamfered and straight cut stopped
axial beam and fireplace is blocked. Parlour crosswing is disused and only limited
access was available. Its 3-bay roof is carried on some type of cruck trusses (the
lower parts plastered over) with cambered collars. They are clean. Roof of main
block is problematic since it all appears to be smoke-blackened. The hall truss is
some form of cruck truss (the lower parts plastered over) and it is probably C16 and therefore genuinely smokeblacked from the open hearth fire. The passage and service
end roof however is mid C17; A-frame trusses with pegged dovetail-shaped collars,
the principals lap-jointed onto wall posts. The blackening here must be leakage
from the kitchen stack. An oak close-studded frame of late C16 date shows at the
upper end of the passage. More C16 and C17 features are undoubtedly hidden in the
house although the early C19 modernisation must be regarded as an important phase in
the development of the house.
Front garden is enclosed by a low granite rubble wall, probably early C19.

Listing NGR: SX6797393432

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26611593

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

• 
  The Victorian House Manual (2nd Edition): How They Were Built, Improvements & Refurbishment, Solutions to All Common Defects - Includes Relevant ... ... Properties (Haynes Manual) (Haynes Manuals)
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  Cumbria: Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of History Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990