Description

TQ 54 SW SPELDHURST BULLINGSTONE LANE

3/464 The Old Farmhouse

II

Former farmhouse. Late C15/early C16, late C16/early C17 improvements,
altered in late C17 (1671 if a date on one of the beams is genuine),
refurbished with an extension circa 1984. Timber-framed on coursed sandstone
footings. Ground floor front is underbuilt in Flemish bond red brick with
decorative burnt headers, framing above is hung with peg-tile, and the south
east end has exposed framing down to the footings. Brick stack on stone base
with brick chimneyshaft including old brick. Peg-tile roof.

Plan and Development: House faces south west and has a T-plan. Main block
has a basic 2-room plan. The right (south east) room is the unheated service
end and still divided into 2 smaller rooms by an axial partition (same on the
first floor). The left room is the hall, the main living room, and it has a
gable-end stack backing onto a lean-to outshot that end. C20 one-room plan
extension projecting to rear. It now contains the present kitchen.

The present layout of the main block is the result of late C17 alterations
which probably reduced the size of the farmhouse. Before that it probably had
another room on the left end where the outshot is now. The main room was
originally a late medieval hall, open to the roof and heated by an open hearth
fire. The service end is wholly late medieval. It was always 2 storeys and
always subdivided into 2 smaller rooms on each floor. In the late C16/early
C17 the hall was floored over and a timber-framed stack was inserted, replaced
by the present brick and stone stack in the late C17. Also in the late C17
the hall roof was rebuilt.

House is 2 storeys.

Exterior: Irregular 2-window front of C19 and C20 casements containing
diamond panes of leaded glass and hall has a canted bay window. Front doorway
up a flight of stone steps. It contains an old part-glazed plank door under a
monopitch hood. Main roof is gable-ended. The right (south west) end shows
the late medieval framing, large panels with curving tensions braces. Each
floor has 2 small windows with diamond mullions, only one has replacement
mullions. Circa 1984 extension in the same style as the older section.

Interior: Well-preserved. The late medieval carpentry is plain but of
relatively large scantling. The service end joists are chamfered with step
stops. Late C16/early C17 axial beam in the hall is chamfered with canted
step stops and the joists are chamfered with step stops. The fireplace has
stone jambs and brick back but has a timber-framed front (the right jamb cut
out by the stone). It has a low Tudor arch with chamfered surround and the
lintel has a moulded cornice cut from the solid. The roof is original over
the service end; one-bay of crown post construction. It has been replaced
over the hall but the stub of the crown purlin remains and it is smoke-
blackened from the original open hearth fire. Hall roof replaced in the late
C17 with a butt purlin construction and one of the timbers is inscribed with
the date 1671.

The Old Farmhouse is a well-preserved and interesting multi-phase farmhouse.

Listing NGR: TQ5448741138

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26533289

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

• 
  Setting up a Listed Building Heritage Partnership Agreement: Historic England Advice Note 5
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)
• 
  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Care and Repair