Description

CHRISTOW CHRISTOW
SX 88 SW
5/96 New House and Barne End
30.6.61
GV II*
Former farmhouse, divided into 2. Probably circa early C16 origins, remodelled in the
circa early C17, rear wing added circa aid/late C17, house divided into 2 in the late
C20 when the barn at the right end was converted to domestic use forming part of
Barne End. Whitewashed rendered cob and stone ; slate roof, gabled at left end,
hipped at right end over former barn ; left end and axial granite stacks with granite
shafts and tapered caps to main block, similar end stack to wing, rendered shaft to
axial stack right of centre.
Plan: Unusual. A through passage plan, originally an open hall, lower end to the
right,hall stack backing on to passage but with 2 rooms at the left end of the hall:
first, a narrow unheated room and then a heated room at the extreme left end which
appears to have been designed as a parlour but actually utilized as a service room at
one time (drain in floor uncovered during renovations). A rear wing at right angles
to the hall gives an overall T plan, former newel stair adjacent to stack of rear
wing. The origins of the house are an open hall arrangement, but with only limited
acess to the roof timbers the extent of the original building and sequence of
flooring is not entirely clear : there is a higher end jetty in the hall which must
have remained open to the roof when the higher end was floored. The rear wing was
probably added in the mid/late C17. A probably C19 straight stair has been inserted
between the rear wing and main block. The passage, lower end and an adjoining barn
is now a separate dwelling (Barne End).
Exterior: 2 storeys. Aysmmetrical 3:2 window front, Newhouse to the left with a C20
front door in the centre into the narrow unheated room to the left of the hall. C20
lean-to porch to left of Barne End into former passage. 3-light late C19 or C20
timber casements with glazing bars. The converted barn at the right end has a C20
door at the extreme right and C20 casements with glazing bars.
Interior: Of considerable interest. The hall (in New House) has an open fireplace
with granite lintel and jambs, relieving arch over lintel; chamfered, step-stopped
axial beam. Plank and muntin screen at higher end with jetty over, the muntins
chamfered and stopped off at hall bench level with the bench end surviving. Rare
survival of probably C17 painted decoration on screen, bench end and jetty beam
including flowers and abstract patterns. The room at the extreme left end of the
range has an open fireplace with granite chamfered jambs and a mutilated timber
lintel with runout stops ; chamfered crossbeam with scroll stops. This room is said
to have formerly had an open drain, the small adjacent room was formerly cobbled.
The ground floor room of the rear wing has the remains of an open fireplace with a
granite lintel and chamfered stopped cross beam. First floor room left has a small
C17 fireplace with granite jambs and an ovolo-moulded timber lintel. A closed
partition rises above the jetty at the higher end of the hall. The passage, in Barne
End has a good doorway at the front. The granite ashlar back of the hall stack is
exposed in the passage, the rest of the partition made up of a plank and muntin
screen with a doorway (blocked) with a cambered lintel formerly leading into the
hall. The lower end room has a chamfered crossbeam and open fireplace with a timber
lintel.
Roof: Not accessible throughout but a lightly smoke-blackened pegged jointed cruck
over the hall has a diagonally-set ridge and sooted rafters; a closed truss over the
passage (in Barne End) is lightly sooted on the hall side.
An important medieval house with an unusual plan farm.

Listing NGR: SX8352284969

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17536019

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

• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Surrey (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)