Description

MELBOURN HIGH STREET
TL 34 NE
(North side)
7/153
No. 12 (Lordship
Farmhouse)
GV II

Manor house. Of three principal building periods. C14-C15, 1699 and
C18-C19. Timber framed, plaster rendered and part stuccoed and incised in
imitation of stone ashlar. Tiled, steeply pitched roofs now covered with
asbestos slate. One large stack between the medieval range and the C18 part,
and another side stack to the rear of the 1699 part. Present plan is
irregular and is formed of two parallel and adjoining ranges with the gable
ends towards the road. The right hand range is of six bays and the left hand
range of three bays. Two storeys. Principal front now faces the garden.
Three early C19 window openings at first floor including one tripartite hung
sash. Two similar windows flanking doorway with early C19 doorcase and
hood. Inside: The three bays of a parlour crosswing of a medieval house
remain intact in the range to the north. The bays are complete with original
gable end walls visible in the roof. The roof has been rebuilt mid C20 but
the principal trusses remain. Roof is of butt purlin construction. The
mortices for the purlins are now vacant. The tie beams are cambered, the
posts are jowled and principal rafters are halved and pegged at the apex. No
evidence of a crown post roof or of bracing to the tie beams was visible.
The parlour crosswing was of two storeys. There are arch braces to the main
beam in the ceiling of the ground floor room. The first floor room would
have been open to the roof. The roof timbers are chamfered and there is
evidence for a window in the gable end to the road. The smoke blackening in
the roof is associated with a fire. Three bays were added to the end of this
range in 1699. They are also timber framed. The framing has straight wall
bracing and staggered studwork. There is a large inglenook to the kitchen
and this appears to have been extended when the C18 part was added or
rebuilt. This later wing, which forms the second of the two parallel,
adjoining ranges is also framed, though the framing is not visible
internally. It is cellared and of two storeys. The internal detail of this
part of the house is mostly of early mid C19, and similar in period to the
fenestration. The house is on a moated site. Three bays in the north range
remain of the medieval manor house of the Argentine family. The date 1699 to
the gable end of the north range may indicate the date of the additions at
the rear and suggest a rebuilding. It was sold c.1703 to Richard Hitch.

V.C.H. Cambs. Vol. VIII p.71
W.M. Palmer: Proc. C.A.S. XXVIII, p.46,49
R.C.H.M.: Record Card (1949)

Listing NGR: TL3846045041

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26616153

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

• 
  Yorkshire: York and the East Riding (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Renovating Old Houses: Bringing New Life to Vintage Homes (For Pros By Pros)
• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Liverpool: Pevsner City Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas