Description

UPOTTERY
ST 20 NW
7/115 Preston Farmhouse
-
GV II

Farmhouse. Early or mid C16 with major later C16 and C17 improvements, some late
C19 alterations. Local stone and flint rubble; stone rubble stacks topped with C19
and C20 brick; thatch roof.
Plan and development: L-plan building. The main block faces onto the farmyard to
the north-east and is built across the hillslope. It has a 4-room-and-trough-
passage plan. At the right (north-west) end a former parlour is now used as an
agricultural store. Presumably it once had an end stack but this must have been
demolished when it was converted to agricultural use. Between this former parlour
and the hall is a small room heated by an axial stack backing onto the passage. At
the left (south-east) end is the former service end kitchen with a gable-end stack.
A 2-room plan service block projects at right angles to rear of the kitchen.
Since most of the roof is inaccessible it is not possible to determine the early
structural development of the house. Nevertheless it seems likely that the house
began as some form of open hall house maybe heated by an open hearth fire. There
are corresponding straight joins in the front and back walls in the present hall
which might suggest that the original farmhouse occupied only the left (south-east)
half of the main block. The present farmhouse is essentially the result of an
extensive early C17 refurbishment which probably involved the lengthening of the
main block at the former parlour end. Much of the early fabric is hidden and what
features are exposed are early C17, including the rear service block. At this time
the hall and parlour were separated by a small unheated room, probably a buttery or
cellar. In the C19 the parlour at the end was taken out of domestic use and the
buttery was converted to a parlour and a new axial stack was inserted to heat it.
Farmhouse is 2 storeys throughout.
Exterior: irregular 4-window front of C20 casements, the latest without glazing
bars, and incluing 1 earlier window first floor right end (the disused
chamber/present hayloft over the C17 parlour) which has flat-faced mullions and may
be C18. The passage front doorway is left of centre and contains a C19 plank door
behind a C20 gabled porch. The main roof is gable-ended and the rear block is half-
hipped.
Interior: is largely the result of apparently superficial C19 and C20
modernisations but where earlier carpentry is exposed it is consistently early C17
but C16 features are suspected. The larger room of the rear service room has a
crossbeam with deep chamfers and step stops. The kitchen in the main block has 2
chamfered and step-stopped crossbeams and a large kitchen fireplace which is blocked
although its chamfered limestone ashlar jambs and oak lintel is exposed. In the
hall there is an oak plank-and-muntin screen at the upper end, its muntins chamfered
with cut diagonal stops. The ceiling is 9 panels of intersecting deeply chamfered
beams. The fireplace here is blocked. The former buttery/present parlour has a
deep-chamfered crossbeam. The former parlour/present outhouse also has a 9-panel
ceiling of chamfered intersecting beams and here the headbeam of an oak plank-and-
muntin screen shows in the partition between this room and the rest of the house.
For the most part the roof is inaccessible. Nevertheless it is carried on side-
pegged jointed crucks which show below the ceiling. Only over the former parlour
can the roof be examined in detail. Here the trusses have cambered collars and are
clean. However this end is thought to be an early extension and therefore other
parts of the roof may be earlier and may be able to provide evidence of the earlier
structural history of the house.

Listing NGR: ST2152807845

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26618415

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

• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects by Harwood, Richard (2012) Paperback
• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas
• 
  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)