Description

NORTH LEIGH

1700/21/172 CHURCH ROAD
29-JUN-88 (West side)
CHURCH FARM HOUSE

II
House, formerly farmhouse, probably early C18.

MATERIALS: Squared coursed limestone rubble with stone slate roof.

PLAN: Symmetrically-planned main block of two-storeys plus attic and cellar, with ground-floor entrance lobby giving access to parlour, kitchen and projecting rear stair turret; smaller service wing adjoining kitchen to north.

EXTERIOR: Two-storey main block has symmetrical front of four bays. Flat stone arches over tall rectangular windows, originally with timber mullions and transoms (surviving on ground floor) and wrought-iron opening casements. Central doorway has moulded timber lintel above six-panel front door with glazed upper lights. Gabled roof with two attic dormers and end stacks replaced in yellow brick. Rear elevation has central projecting stair turret with hipped roof; lean-to extension with pantiled roof to left. Single-storey service wing to north, thought to be contemporary with main block, with attic dormer and end stack; mid-C20 conservatory to rear.

INTERIOR: Surviving features include C18 plank and panelled doors, fireplace in right-hand room on ground floor with rack (probably spit rack) above, further fireplace in left-hand room on first floor, and timber newel staircase in rear turret.

HISTORY: Church Farm House may have been built by the Perrott family, who held the manor of North Leigh in the early C18. Between 1765 and 1886 the house and farm were owned by the Duke of Marlborough and let to various tenants. Apart from a small rear extension built before 1876 and a conservatory added in the 1950s, the building has been little altered.

SOURCES: Victoria County History of Oxfordshire, vol.12 (1990), pp.213-9.
RB Wood-Jones, Traditional Domestic Architecture of the Banbury Region (1963).

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION: Church Farm House is listed for the following principal reason:
* Architectural interest: a little-altered example of a formally-planned farmhouse of the early C18.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26495019

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 Handbook 2 Books Bundle Collection (Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair,Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability)
• 
  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects, Supplement 2014
• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)