MSO10846 - Sydenham House, High Street, Dulverton (Building)

Sydenham House is likely to be of late medieval or early post-medieval date and may originally have been a three room and cross passage house, with an open hall at the centre and storeyed elements at either end.

Sydenham House was a farmhouse, and is now a dwelling with later buildings abutting either end. It dates to the 16th century and possibly earlier. It was refenestrated in the late 17th century and altered internally in c.1820. The roof was raised and partly refenestrated in the mid 20th century. This is an interesting house whose evolution is unclear. [1] Sydenham Hall was possibly the original manor house of the Sydenham family. Its grounds covered a large part of the triangle between High Street and Market (Bank) Square. [3] The building is mentioned in the 2003 Conservation Area Character Appraisal for Dulverton. [5] There is a priest hole at Sydenham House. [6] The house was subject to rapid survey in May 2011. It is likely to be of late medieval or early post-medieval date and is very well preserved, consisting of a long low range of buildings parallel with the street. It may originally have been a three room and cross passage house, with an open hall at the centre and storeyed elements at either end. The house has been refurbished on several occasions, including the third quarter of the 17th Century and in around 1800. Much of the early roof of the house remains and appears to include jointed crucks, with a secondary partition of a late 15th to 17th Century date infilling an earlier truss and defining the northern rooms. [7] The building was visited in February 2012 as part of the rapid condition survey of Exmoor's Listed Buildings 2012-13. It received a BAR score of 6. [8] The building is mentioned in the 2019 Conservation Area Appraisal for Dulverton as one of the most historically interesting buildings in the town. [9]