Description

TM 15 SE
4/122

HENLEY
MAIN ROAD
Walnut Tree Farmhouse

II*

Farmhouse, built in 4 phases from mid C15 to mid C16. A large half-H plan
house; the service range also projects at the rear. 2 storeys. Timber-framed
and plastered. Plaintiled roofs with C19 serpentine bargeboards. Axial
chimneys of red brick; the central stack in the hall range has a C16 saw-tooth
pattern shaft. Mainly C19 small-pane sash windows. 1-storey C20 entrance
porch with plaintiled roof; panelled inner door. The construction phases are
as follows:-
1. Part of a 2-bay C15 open hall now behind the service range. Tension-braced
close-studwork and heavily smoke-blackened crown-pose roof. It originally had
a further cell at the rear; the hall may have been kept on as a kitchen or
bakehouse for the substantial house built in C16.
2. A 2-cell, 4 bay service range attached to the hall c.1500; plain but heavy
framing, arch-braced close-studwork and unmoulded crownpost roof. Some
blocked diamond-mullioned windows. This range was detached from the early C16
house and thus has windows which are now internal.
3. A solar cross-wing, coeval with, but detached from phase 2. A high
quality structure. The 3-bay solar has very close studwork; the open trusses
survive, but without the original crown posts. A blocked window has heavily
moulded mullions, each light having a little arched head with sunk spandrels.
This solar wing was attached to a hall range which was demolished to make room
for phase 4.
4. This range was re-built c.1550-1570 and contains a hall and parlour of
high quality, with back-to-back fireplaces. The parlour has roll-moulded
beams and joists and blocked moulded mullioned windows. Wind-braced clasped-
purlin roof.
Attached to the rear wall of the house is a limestone headstone taken from a
nearby meadow; it marked the grave of a horse which according to the epitaph
served its master in several battles in Europe during the Napoleonic wars and
evidently retired to this farm until its death. Included as Grade II* because
a good example of the evolution of the house of a prosperous farmer from the
C15 to C16.

Listing NGR: TM1567351765

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17539201

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

• 
  London 4: North: North v. 4 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Renovating Old Houses: Bringing New Life to Vintage Homes (For Pros By Pros)
• 
  Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cornwall (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2