Description

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SO 33 NW
2/40

MICHAELCHURCH ESCLEY CP
Oldhay Farmhouse

GV
II

Former farmhouse. Perhaps C15 - early C16 altered and extended in C17. Fine coursed rubble stone slate roof. Cruck building (hall ?) with through-passage, inserted stack and added rubble service bay to right, end stack to right. One storey and attic; four bays. Two three-light C19 casements to left, one to each bay, late C19 - early C20 raking-top loft opening to right, above and to left of main entrance a small three-light oak-framed diamond-section mullioned window. Entrance right of centre, under gabled rubble porch, probably C18, now roofed in corrugated iron with longitudinal stone benches inside, C19 ledged door under sharply pointed four-centred arch.

To rear of left bay a three-light mullioned oak window with C17 or C18 leaded iron casements, fillets on the outside and slots for intermediate mullions. Rear of second bay from left hand side has C18 ledged door and larger window formerly of five lights with diamond section mullions. C17 rear projection masks rear of entrance bay and contains in its right end wall under a label a contemporary four-light diamond-section mullioned oak window divided by king mullion and a smaller one on each side.

Interior: remains of four pairs of crucks with blocking pieces. Left pair is collar cruck, its interstices infilled with rubble to form part of left hand gable end. Second pair of crucks from left: chamfered flat door-head beneath front underside of cruck tie-beam; square-headed doorway centrally positioned at first floor level above the tie-beam, the bottom of the doorway cut down into the tie to about a third of the latter's depth.

Second bay from left: three longitudinal flush bead moulded C17 floor joists, a design identical to that on a beam abandoned outside which is inscribed "T S 1654"; the rearmost of the three joists is set immediately in front of the rear window of this bay and cuts across its head. Fireplace with massive chamfered stone lintel and cheeks inserted into third bay from left hard up against remains of one cruck blade that separated the third and fourth bays; to front of stack the inside of the three-light window next to the main entrance is blocked off: presumably it once lit a staircase; through-passage now blocked by C19 partition containing straight C19 stairs to right of fire-place and stack, leads into rear extension under opening directly opposite front entrance and with same type of four-centred head.

Rear extension: half-truss, half-tie-beam bearing on main rear wall and supporting raking strut and principal rafter and producing two bays. Right hand bay: separated from third bay by a pair of full cruck blades with central upper door frame on its tie-beam; a slightly lower floor level than the earlier crucked part; ceiling joists run from front to back, run-out chamfers, one joist bears on walls above front door head and rear window head.

Listing NGR: SO3096338137

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26517862

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

• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of Historic Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  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)
• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
• 
  Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey