Description

WHITCHURCH
SX 57 SW

7/170 Oakley Farmhouse
-
II

Farmhouse. Late C161early C17, upper end demolished and replaced by 2-storey block
c. 1880, re-roofed early C20 with some later alterations; panelling dated 1655
preserved in house. Granite and slatestone rubble with granite dressings, slate
roofs. C19 building rendered and lined out to front with gable end stacks.
Originally 2 rooms, very wide through passage or unheated central room with opposing
doors and shippon, with shippon end to left, and rear wing of 2-room plan forming L-
plan behind hall. Rear wing included living accommodation heated by stack to outer
side, and unheated dairy to end; extended at gable end by single-storey stable
probably mid C19. Further stabling of 2 storeys was built to form a second rear wing
behind the shippon, also probably mid C19; these wings form a U-plan courtyard to the
rear of the farmhouse. Circa 1880, the upper end was replaced by a 2-storey block
with symmetrical front, with central entry leading to passage and room to right and
left; further building to rear, set in angle with original rear wing, contains
longitudinal passage leading to rear entrance and has dog-leg stair to right in
projection. The wide through passage remains, cobbled, and the wall to the shippon
appears to have been inserted at a date after the original build. The passage is
unusually wide, and is actually a room which seem to be an original feature of the
plan because the door which would have led to the hall (now the rear longitudinal
passage) does not appear to have been moved from its original position. The original
orientation of the house is uncertain; the 4-centred arched doorway now to rear is of
better quality than the passage doorway now to front, but this would imply that the
wing containing the dairy was originally to the front of the house. The C19 block,
which forms a front facade, is effectively at the rear, as the house is now
approached from the U-plan courtyard.
C19 front of 2 storeys and 3 windows, all 4-pane sashes, central gabled porch with
C20 door and overlight. Set back to left, lower 2-storey passage and shippon, tall
4-centred arched granite doorway to passage, chamfered, door with strap hinges; 2
blocked window openings under eaves of shippon and single storey lean-to in rubble to
front; inside the lean-to there is no access to shippon, blocked ventilation slit in
shippon wall. Shippon has hipped roof to end left, cement-washed slate roof. Gable
end of shippon to left has single storey rubble lean-to for additional animal
shelter, with small single ventilation opening and door. Drain hole remains inside
on shippon end wall. To left, outer wall of stable attached to shippon; this has a
rubble lean-to, with roof continuing pitch of stable roof, in corrugated iron. Gable
end of stable has door with ventilation slit above, large granite quoins. Right
gable end of C19 block rendered and lined out, with two 4-pane sashes at ground and
first floor; set back to right, C19 stair projection of 2 storeys, with 2-pane sash
at ground and first floor. Attached to right, 2-storey rear wing (possibly of
original build); this has stack to left, and single storey lean-to with single storey
lean-to with single unglazed light. Gable end of wing is rendered, with small single
blocked granite window, hollow-chamfered; single storey stable attached to end,
probably C19, with door. Rear of main range has rear passage doorway, a 4-centred
chamfered granite arch with round-cut stops at the springing of the arch; single
light to right and left, with granite lintel to right and single light under eaves to
right. In angle to the stable to right, and external stair leading to loading door
in the shippon and door to stable. The stable has a door and window with granite
lintels. The rear wing to left has 2 small 2-light casements under eaves, entered
directly into the room behind the original hall, through a 4-centred arched chamfered
granite doorway with step stops; to right a 2-light casement of 8 panes each light
with segmental head and an unglazed 2-light casement to left with segmental head.
Interior From the passage, door to shippon has strap hinges and timber lintel, 4-
centred arched granite doorwy to former hall, chamfered and step-stopped. Reset in
C19 passage, wooden panelling with frieze from former hall; this has scratch-carved
initials and date: "WH THE 29 OF MAY IP THE 29 DAY OF MAY 1655". The rear wing
appears to have been remodelled in the C18, the inner room has a granite fireplace
with flat chamfered lintel, staircase inserted along party wall between the 2 rooms
with C18 turned balusters. The inner room is entered from a door in the rear
longitudinal passage as well as externally.

Listing NGR: SX5225873357

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26611767

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, Conservation Areas and Monuments
• 
  London 1: The City of London: City of London v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Care and Repair
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Buildings of England)
• 
  Yorkshire: York and the East Riding (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)