Summary

House, originally built as a farmhouse in the latter part of the C16, with a stack inserted in the C17; there is an additional mid-C19 range. A late-C20 extension is excluded from the listing.

Description

House, originally built as a farmhouse in the latter part of the C16, with a stack inserted in the C17; there is an additional mid-C19 range. A late-C20 extension* is excluded from the listing.

MATERIALS: the original, western range of the house was timber-framed; the frame largely survives in the rear part of the range. The front parts of the range appear to have been rebuilt in brick, now painted. This range of the building has a tiled roof. Above the present central bay the brick stack rises, its capping rebuilt. The north wall of the outshut is of stone. The mid-C19 range is of rendered brick, the brick being visible, though painted, on the north-west elevation. The roofs over this part of the building are also tiled; the two original stacks have been removed. All the windows are C20 or early-C21 timber replacements.

PLAN: the C16 range forms a rectangle, the north-west/south-east alignment described as west/east here for the purpose of clarity. There is an outshut along the north elevation. The mid-C19 joins the C16 range at the east end of the C16 range, and extends northwards to form an inverted L-plan overall. At the junction of the two ranges, a small vertical addition has been made, probably in the late C19 or early C20, adding a first-floor closet to the mid-C19 range and a dormer window in the original range. At the north end of the mid-C19 range is the late-C20 lean-to extension, spanning the width of the range.

EXTERIOR: the original, C16 range is three bays wide and two storeys high. As is noted in the History section, the south-facing front elevation has seen considerable change. In what is now the central bay, the ground-floor area which is thought originally to have contained the principal doorway was filled in by the 1920s and a window inserted in the space by the 1950s, with a central window opening inserted in the space above. The windows to either side have been altered and now have wide horizontal openings containing multi-pane casement frames. The roof forms a catslide over the northern outshut, which appears to have undergone extensive rebuilding. The western section of the rear wall is of exposed stone, showing no trace of the projection marked on the OS maps; the eastern part is of brick. A new door has been inserted between the two sections; an earlier doorway on the west elevation is blocked.

The mid-C19 range has been considerably altered, and is of lesser interest. Though also of two storeys, this section is higher than the original range, its western wall rising abruptly above the ridge of the older building at the point where the original roof hip descended to the east. On the south elevation, some of the C19 render survives, incised to resemble ashlar. The entrance is protected by a late-C20 porch, above which is a late-C20 oculus. The two bow windows are also late-C20, replacing the original sashes. On the eastern elevation too, all the openings have been altered: there are C21 French doors, an inserted bow window at first-floor level, and a replacement canted bay to the ground floor. To the west, the altered window openings contain casement frames. The addition in the angle between the ranges has a small first-floor window lighting a closet, with a dormer light to the bathroom. At the north end of the mid-C19 range, the roof descends in a cat-slide over the late-C20 extension, excluded from the listing.

INTERIOR: the C16 range now has two rooms on each floor, with the present central bay being largely occupied by the substantial stack. On the ground floor, the former central lobby is now a passageway between the rooms. To the south-east, the present dining room has a large ingle fireplace, the interior brickwork having been rebuilt. The fireplace’s bressumer may be a replacement. A transverse beam running in front of the fireplace is thought to have served as the eastern bressumer for the smoke-bay. Met by a central axial beam, the bressumer is chamfered to the east with scroll stops to either side of the axial beam. The northern end of the bressumer, which rests on a post with an integral bracket, has a scroll stop to the eastern side. The south end of the bresssumer is embedded in the rebuilt front wall. The axial beam is chamfered with runout stops at both ends. At the eastern side of the room the axial beam meets the half beam, which is chamfered with a scroll stop at the north end; the south end of the beam has been cut to create a doorway to the mid-C19 range. The joists in the northern part of the room are probably replacements. In the western room, currently the sitting room, the interior of the fireplace is rebuilt and rendered. The space to the north of the stack, the likely position of the stair following the insertion of the stack, and more recently occupied by a stove, is now a cupboard. The principal timbers within this room appear not to be original: the bressumer, with an additional horizontal timber above, and an axial beam. The original timber-framed rear wall is partly visible, within the sitting room and within the rear outshut. The head beam above is reinforced to the south side. In the sitting room a stone plinth is visible, above which are widely-spaced posts with braces partially obscured by render; the timbers are of relatively slight scantling. To the east of the stack, within the outshut, there is a panel of close-studding, probably reflecting the higher status of the eastern room. Above the head beam, the bottom part of the first-floor large framing is visible. The majority of the sill beam has been replaced. On the first floor, within the original range, the narrowly-placed studs of the rear wall are visible in the western room. The frame is also visible in the rear part of what is now the easternmost bay of the original range, where posts support the wall plate, which is chamfered, with a scroll stop to the east end. The central post is a recent addition. The eastern end, at the former junction with the lost easternmost bay where the roof hip would have descended, is marked by a joweled post. The present easternmost bay is now partitioned, creating two bathrooms, with a straight-cut stop-chamfered axial beam visible in the south-east room. The tie beams are visible on the first floor, dividing the bays, with planked doors beneath. In the western room the axial beam is a replacement. The central bay is largely occupied by the slope of the stack. To the rear the C17 brickwork of the stack is exposed within what was formerly the first-floor part of the smoke-bay. The framing survives to the eastern side, with the appearance of smoke blackening to the timber. The roof structure of the original range to the east of the stack has collars and clasped purlins, with curved windbraces beneath; the rafters are morticed and tenoned at the apex. The structure is pegged. At the east end of the southern slope, a rafter has been cut to allow for the insertion of the dormer window, now removed. To north and south of the stack are newer rafters, supporting the theory that this space was originally an open smoke-bay. A little to the west of this, on the southern slope, there appear to be signs of smoke-blackening, suggesting the escape of smoke from the confines of the smoke-bay. The roof section to the west of the stack was not fully accessible, but the hipped structure appears to survive well, with some replacement of timbers.

The main entrance within the mid-C19 range leads into an entrance passage, in which the stair rises straight against the eastern wall of the original range. The stair appears to be original, of open-string form with shaped brackets to the treads, stick balusters and turned newel posts. Cupboards have recently (2019) been fitted beneath the stair. There is a plain four-panel door to the dining room in the original range, and another in the doorway to the south-east room; this has a tripartite over-door light. Upstairs, there are four-panel or planked doors, also with overdoor lights. Few other historic features remain within this part of the building. On the ground floor the whole of the range, apart from the entrance passage, has been opened out to create a single space, which now includes the late-C20 extension, the extension being excluded from the listing. The chimneybreast to the south remains; the chimneybreast to the north has been removed. The first-floor room at the north end of the house is now linked with the double-height space of the late-C20 lean-to extension by large windows. The roof over the mid-C19 range was not fully inspected, but the C19 structure survives over the southern section.

* Pursuant to s1 (5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (‘the Act’), it is declared that this aforementioned feature is not of special architectural or historic interest, however any works which have the potential to affect the character of the listed building as a building of special architectural or historic interest may still require LBC and this is a matter for the LPA to determine.

This list entry was amended on 16/07/2019

History

The house now known as Ivy Lodge originated as a timber-framed farmhouse in the C16; this building is represented by the western range. Thought originally to have been built as a three-cell house with a smoke-bay (a bay left open to the roof to house the fire), a brick chimney stack was inserted into the smoke bay in the C17, probably creating a lobby-entry house, with the main entrance opening to a lobby in front of the stack. The eastern bay was demolished in the C19 to make way for a new range, and it is very possible that the re-fronting of the house in brick took place at that time.

In 1842, when the Tithe map was produced, the farm was owned by an Edward Marsh, who rented it out. At that time, the map indicates that the farmhouse consisted of the original range only, though probably with an outshut along the north elevation. There were outbuildings to the north, and the farm’s agricultural buildings were arranged in a loose courtyard plan to the south-east. By 1872 the eastern range of the house had been constructed, involving the removal of the eastern bay of the original range, with the roof-hip above. There is an indication of a porch to the outshut on the north elevation at this time. Ordnance Survey mapping shows the essential footprint of the building remaining constant thereafter, although a number of significant changes have taken place within that footprint.

Historic photographs give evidence of some of these changes. A photograph taken during the 1920s shows that the brick front to the western range had a parapet obscuring the roof eaves, with a small dormer window inserted above the eaves to the east. The central area thought to have been the original position of the door was then blind, and full-length windows had been inserted to the ground floor. A 1950s photograph shows the parapet removed, together with the dormer window. At the same time the fenestration to the front wall had been altered: a central window had been inserted to both ground and first floors; the ground-floor openings had been converted to horizontal windows, and the horizontal window openings to the first floor had been widened. A number of alterations have taken place since the 1950s, both externally and internally, including the removal of stacks at either end of the mid-C19 range, the rebuilding of the front porch, which protects the front door in the mid-C19 part of the building, and changes to windows. A lean-to extension was built to the rear of the mid-C19 range in the late C20, and extensive internal alterations made to this range in 2005.

The name of the site has changed during the course of its history: at the time of the publication of the 1872 Ordnance Survey map, the farmstead had the name ‘Marsh’s Farm’; the name remains on the OS map today (2019) though since ceasing to be a farmhouse it has become known as ‘Ivy Lodge’. The historic farm buildings have now all gone.

Reasons for Listing

Ivy Lodge, C16 farmhouse with a C19 addition and later modifications, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* as a house of some status originating in the C16 and retaining a fair proportion of its timber frame, with evidence of an original smoke bay;
* the internal timberwork is of good quality, with a legible arrangement of stop-chamfered beams and joists to the eastern rooms of the original range;
* the later development of the house is of interest, with a surviving brick stack inserted in the C17, and the refronting of the C19 probably illustrative of changing fashions;

Group value:

* with the Grade I-listed medieval Church of St George, standing a short distance to the north-west.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26627924

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

• 
  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects by Harwood, Richard (2012) Paperback
• 
  London 1: The City of London: City of London v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
• 
  London 4: North: North v. 4 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas