MSO10791 - Cloggs Farmhouse (Building)

A possible longhouse of 16th or 17th Century date, extended in the 19th Century. There are back-to-back fireplaces on the ground floor, the eastern facing one having served the kitchen and containing a (now blocked) bread oven.

A longhouse of 16th- 17th Century in date that was later altered in the 19th Century. The building is roughcast over rubble. The end bay has been left exposed. From external evidence the building appears to be a lobby entry long house. The building is two storeys with 1:1:3 bays. [1] The farmstead was visited in January 1997. The house was described as ancient and of three room plan, with a hall ridge stack. Its interior was not viewed. Its siting was described as "rather a perfect little establishment and interestingly disposed." [2] The farm was recorded by English Heritage in December 1999. It is a well preserved example of a small moorland edge farm, comprising a farmhouse of probably late 17th or early 18th Century date and a complete set of farm buildings that were probably built by the Caernavon Estate in the mid to late 19th Century. The buildings retain their original form and appearance and the shippon, bank barn and stable have numerous fixtures and fittings. The buildings also retain their original roof structures and these demonstrate good quality estate carpentry techniques. The farmhouse is the earliest surviving building and predates the farm buildings by at least a century. It originally had a two-unit lobby entry plan but has been extended to the east by an additional bay and is now linked to the shippon to the west by a linhay (MEM22419). The house would have had associated farm buildings before the present ones were built, although no other pre 19th Century buildings survive. The tithe map shows two earlier buildings associated with the house, a larger building with a rectangular plan close to the site of MEM22418 and another smaller building to the south of the house. The farmhouse is two storeyed and built of rubble that is rendered on the front elevation, with a gabled roof with Welsh slates, although it was probably originally thatched. The near central entrance is associated with a substantial chimney stack. Originally there was probably a parlour to the west of the entrance and a kitchen to its east, with an unheated service room at the eastern end of the house separated from the kitchen by a platered timber partition. This unheated room contained the stairs to the first floor, which originally had two or three (possibly unheated) rooms. The chimney stack had back-to-back fireplaces on the ground floor, with the eastern side (kitchen) incorporating a later (and now blocked) bread oven. The house was extended in the 19th Century by the addition of a new bay with chimney stack to the east, likely containing a kitchen on the ground floor and a bedroom above. This has an attached wing at ninety degrees to the rear, which originally served as a stable and hayloft; in the early 20th Century, this was converted into a back kitchen and sculler, with a bedroom above. A single storey entrance porch and rear outshot were added later. [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]