MSO10273 - West Lynch Cottage, West Lynch (Building)

A former farmhouse of the late 15th-early 16th Century of a three-room-and-cross-passsage plan. It was remodelled in the late 16th-early 17th Century and further altered and extended between the 18th and 20th Centuries. It has good interior features.

House formerly a farmhouse. Circa late C15 or early C16; remodelled in circa late C16 or early C17 and later in the C17; altered and extended in the C18, C19 and C20. Rendered solid wails. Concrete tile roof with gabled ends. Rendered gable-end and lateral stacks with set-offs, the lateral stack at the front has round rebuilt shaft. PLAN: 3-room-and-cross-passage plan; the small low [service] end room to the left [NW] and the parlour to the right heated from gable-end stacks; the hall has a lateral stack at the front which was built when a floor was inserted in the hall in about the late C16 or early in the C17. The chamber over the parlour is jettied into the hall. The parlour seems to have been rebuilt in the C17 and has a stair-turret to the side of the stack. The ground is lower at the right [SE] end and it is possible that the service end of the house was here originally, the plan having been `turned around` when it was remodelled. Single storey C18/19 extension at NW end, small C19 addition behind parlour, a small C20 extension on side of stair-turret at SE end and another small C20 2-storey extension at NW end. EXTERIOR: 2 storeys. Long asymmetrical 4:1 window range. C20 2-light casements with glazing bars, projecting lateral stack to right of centre with doorway to its left with plank door and C20 canopy; on the right corner a rounded stair-turret with a C20 bay window under a lean-to roof on its side. Single-storey outshut and 2-storey hipped roof extension on the left end. INTERIOR: Plank-and-muntin hall/cross-passage screen with shouldered arch doorway and similar screen partitioning off small room at back of passage, effectively forming entrance lobby. Plastered hall/parlour partition with good shouldered arch doorway and deeply chamfered jetty beam over. Hall has deeply chamfered axial and half-bealms and a large lateral fireplace with a circa early-mid C19 chimneypiece. Circa C18/19 boxed-in stair in hall. Parlour has ovolo-moulded ceiling beams with rounded stops and ovolo-moulded cambered fireplace lintel; newel staircase in turret altered in C20. The partitions over the hall/passage screen and hall/parlour partition were inserted in C17 and at the south east end there are two roof trusses with principals halved and crossed at the apexes and with trenched purlins; the remainder of the roof structure was replaced in the C20. SOURCE: Waterhouse, Robert E., Survey Report, October 1996. [1] English Heritage Listed Building Number: 463025. First Listed on 23/01/1997. [2] The house is a good example of a developed three-room cross-passage plan. The cross-passage house was built in the late 15th-early 16th century, a screen and beam were inserted in the late 16th-early 17th century effectively creating a lobby-entry plan. The eastern room opening off the hall was reconstructed in the mid to late 17th century and hall is at present a rather odd-shaped room due to the insertion of a boxed stair on the west side in the late 18th-early 19th century. Further alterations and additions have been carried out in the 20th century. The house has rendered solid walls and a concrete tile roof with gable ends. [see EMO13932] The house was mentioned in the 2003 Conservation Area appraisal for Bossington and West Lynch, which states "West Lynch Cottage, a recent discovery, was added to the list in 1997, and is a noteworthy former farmhouse. It has late 15th early 16th century origins and is three-room-and-cross-passage plan. It was remodelled in the late 16th-early 17th century, when a stair turret and front lateral stack were added and further altered and extended in stages between the 18th to 20th century. There are good interior features, including plank-and-muntin cross-passage screen, ovolo-moulded and chamfered beams." [3] The building was visited in March 2012 as part of the rapid condition survey of Exmoor's Listed Buildings 2012-13. It received a BAR score of 6. [4] West Lynch Cottage is depicted and labelled on 2020 MasterMap data. [5] A report on the property was prepared by the RCHME in 1996. [6] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [7] West Lynch Cottage is set slightly apart from the track that leads up the hill and into the woods. [8] The building was assessed as part of the 2018-19 rapid condition survey of Exmoor’s Listed Buildings, receiving a BAR score of 6. [9]