Croft's Folly, Lurgashall, West Sussex

Description

LURGASHALL

1899/7/26 WINDFALLWOOD COMMON
26-NOV-87 CROFT'S FOLLY

II
Early C16 agricultural building extended and converted to domestic use in 1580-1600.

PLAN: Two-bay, two-storey building, extended by two-bays in 1580-1600 and further enlarged to the south, creating five bays, before 1750 and to the east (rear) in a single-storey extension, in 1929.

MATERIALS: In general, the timber-framed building had wattle and daub ground-floor walls, which have been underbuilt in stone, with a tile-hung first floor. However, the southern bay extension is entirely stone-built with the southern wall of stone with brick quoins and window surrounds. The hipped tiled roof has a northern cat-slide continuing down over an endshot, and pentice to the eastern extension.

EXTERIOR: Casement windows on the south-west and south elevations are uniform fenestration, at one per bay per storey. However, the two northern first-floor windows are gabled dormers, rather than positioned immediately under the eaves, as the others are. To the southern elevation there is a large five-pane mullioned window at ground floor level, with a two-pane casement above. There are no windows on the north elevation. A mid-C17 brick stack has been inserted into the smoke bay in two phases.

INTERIOR: Not inspected, but it is reported that very little timbering can be seen on the ground floor. The upper floor appears to have square panelling to the south of the stack. Where principal posts are visible, it can be seen that those at the south end of the original agricultural building have rootstocks, while those to the southern extension are unjowled. Additionally, there is a curved down-brace to the north of the south end of the original agricultural building, springing from near the top of the post, and this cross-frame also had down-braces which have since been removed. There are similar down-braces in the c1750 extension. The spine beams in both the second and forth-bays are chamfered with step stops and some of the joists in the forth bay have similar stops, while those in the second are plain. North of the stack, in the late-C16 extension, there is a step-up in the floor level.

The northern medieval end of the roof has clasped side-purlins, which do not reach to the hip rafters. The hip has a gablet at the apex. All the timbers are sooted, but the partition at the end of the first bay and the northern side of the third bay are clean. The roof over the original extension is also of side-purlin with wind-braces construction, and ends in a half-hip. The southern bay also has side-purlins and there is no ridge piece.

HISTORY: Croft's Folly is depicted on the Ordnance Survey maps of 1875 and 1912 as two buildings. The physical evidence, however, shows that it is a medieval agricultural building which was extended and converted to domestic usage in the late C16.

Detailed building analysis shows that the northern two-bays are the extent of an early C16, unfloored, agricultural building. This along with the lightly-sooted roof timbers, suggests that this building was not originally domestic, but was an outbuilding in which some industrial function such as blacksmithing was undertaken. It is somewhat difficult to determine its original form. The northern wall was the end of the building, since the roof is hipped and there is a mid-post in this wall. The partition of the next bay appears to be a later insertion, as there are no visible principal posts here. If this partition is inserted, then the two northern bays were earlier one long bay. The stave holes in the tie-beam and the down-braces in the posts indicate that the open hall, if it was such, did not extend further south. There are scarf joints in the wall-plates at the southern end of this original building and this along with the stave holes below the tie-beam at the next bay indicate that the building to the south is of a later date.

In 1580-1600 it was converted to domestic use by the addition of two bays to the south. At the same time, the second bay partition was inserted and both these bays were floored. A first-floor first-bay window in the east wall dates to this phase. The third-bay smoke-bay, would have been open from floor to rafters, with a smoke louvre in the roof, and the western side of the bay would have been partitioned off to form a baffle entry. In the mid C17 the smoke bay had a brick stack inserted within it. In the C18 the house was enlarged by the addition of a stone-built bay to the south, which provided one further room on each floor. This must date to before the mid C18, as there is no ridge piece in the roof. A single storey rear extension was added in 1929.

SOURCES:
Chatwin, DM, Lurgashall Timber-Framed Buildings, Croft's Folly, Windfall Wood Common (report by Wealden Buildings Research Group, 2004)
Chatwin, DM, Croft's Folly, Windfall Wood Common, Lurgashall - revisit 9.11.2005, (report by Wealden Buildings Research Group, 2005)

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION: Croft's Folly in Windfallwood Common is listed at Grade II for the following principal reason:
* Architectural Interest: an early-C16 agricultural building converted to domestic use in the late C16, retaining structural elements from both these periods.

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Croft's Folly

A Grade II Listed Building in Lurgashall, West Sussex

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