Description

TL 5156 FULBOURN APTHORPE STREET
(West Side)

No.11 (Highfield House)
10/2 (formerly listed as
31.8.62 Highfield Farmhouse)
II*

House, mid-late C14 with floor inserted and roof raised C16 and
enlarged by addition of crosswing to left hand in early C17.
Timber framed, plaster rendered with thatched roof of long
straw. Ridge stack of mid C17 red brick and having grouped
shafts set diagonally. Mid-late C14 open hall and crosswing
plan with entry to cross-passage in crosswing. In early C16
floor and stack inserted into low end of open hall, abutting
onto the cross-passage in the crosswing. At the same the
opposing doorways in the cross-passage were sealed and the
doorway placed opposite the stack, converting the house to one
of lobby-entry type. Two storeys. All the fenestration is
later, some occupying wholly or partially the sites of original
windows. Hall has a casement at first floor and early C19 hung
sashes at ground floor. The present doorway to the lobby entry
has an early C19 panelled door. The right crosswing is jettied
and the jetty beam is carried on four, C14, brackets. One C20
window on the site of an original opening at first floor.
Another smaller window with modern glazing but an original
rectangular mullion still survives in the left hand side wall.
C20 window at ground floor. Left hand crosswing, C17, is also
jettied and has one window to each floor. Adjoining the house
is a kitchen wing, C17-C18, clunch with a tiled roof and end
stack. Originally of one storey. Interior: None of the wall
framing of the hall is now visible. The chamfered and leaf
stopped main beams of the early C16 inserted floor are visible.
The lintel over the inglenook has been partly mutilated but
retains some of the original double roll moulding. The roof was
raised at the same time as the floor and stack were inserted.
The original rafters were re-used in the roof. They are well
sooted but there is clear evidence of disturbance, and the pegs
to the hipped joints of the collars and rafters are quite
clean. The late C14 crosswing is in two bays and has always
been floored. The original main beam is now supported by an
inserted beam. The joists are laid flat and unmoulded. The
inserted chimney stack in the hall and to the crosswing abut
onto the original screens passage. A substantial part of both
the original screen and the cross-passage remain. The opposing
doorways now sealed have segmental arched heads. The middle
beam of the screen has ogee moulding and forms the lintel to the
service doorways which have hollow moulded jambs. These
doorways flank the screen proper which has arched bracing with
trefoil cusping in the spandrels. The crosswing retains the
original crown-post roof with moulded capital and base to the
tall, octagonal column with its four-way bracing. This solar
has a small hearth inserted in the C16. There is a garde robe
addition at the rear of the solar. The C17 crosswing has ovolo
moulding to the main beam. It is cellared. The roof is of
typical clasped side purlin construction of comparatively light
scantling. The kitchen at the rear has a Queen Street roof of
two bays.
J.M. Fletcher and P.S. Spokes: The Origin and Development of
Crown-post roofs
R.C.H.M: record card
M.E. Wood: The English Medieval House p.143

Listing NGR: TL5191456356

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17550854

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

• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cambridgeshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Surrey (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)
• 
  Old House Care and Repair