Donnington Farm and Japonica, Donnington, County of Herefordshire

Summary

A mid-to late-C17 farmhouse, extended to the south in the early-C19, possibly incorporating earlier C18 structures. C20 and C21 alterations.

Description

A mid-to late-C17 farmhouse, extended to the south in the early-C19, possibly incorporating earlier C18 structures. C20 and C21 alterations.

MATERIALS: built of brick in various bonds, including Flemish bond and English garden wall bond, with a plain clay-tile roof, and brick stacks. C20 timber-framed windows set beneath segmental brick heads. The west and south elevation are rendered.

PLAN: a single-pile north range of two-storeys with an attic and cellar and the staircase to the east end. The two-storey south range has a double-pile plan with a central hall and staircase with rooms to either side and an opened-up range to the rear. The first floor is arranged over two levels, and the whole of the south range is spanned by a wide Queen-post roof.

EXTERIOR: the principal entrance elevation of the two-storey south range is to the east and comprises three bays with a gabled late-C20 porch to the central bay; the six-panel entrance door may have been re-used from elsewhere. The ground-floor window to the left-hand bay replaces a former doorway. There is a ridge stack to the south bay and a cross axial stack between the south and north range. The gabled east elevation of the north range has an inserted stair window and two windows to the attic, all with flat heads; there is evidence for numerous former openings. The grille to the cellar has a segmental brick head with a row of vitrified headers above.

The north elevation is arranged as three bays, with the central gabled bay set forward; the S-ends to the iron tie bars are visible to this bay. The C20 windows to the ground and first floor of each bay replace the C17 cross windows; there is an additional inserted window to the gable, and the central ground-floor window may have originally formed a doorway. The stepped brick plinth incorporates three former grilles (now blocked) to the cellar with double rows of headers forming the segmental heads. To the outer bays are brick plat bands between the ground and first floor and there is a continuous brick string course above the first-floor windows.

The gabled west elevation of the north range has C20 inserted windows. The doorway to the cellar has a segmental brick head and has been reduced in width and height. To the right, is a doorway in the south range which now provides access to the north range. The west elevation of the south range has a varied arrangement of window and door openings.

The south gable end has inserted C20 windows and doors.

INTERIOR: to the north range is a mid- to late-C17 oak dog-leg staircase with winder, turned balusters, a closed string, and a moulded handrail and newel posts; the stair between the first floor and attic is late-C20 apart from the newel post to the half landing. Beneath the stair is a C17 plank door with T-shaped hinges with a pronounced taper and rounds ends. The C17 pegged roof trusses comprise principals with curved feet, with collars and tenoned purlins.

The central entrance hall to the south range has a quarry tile floor and an early-C19 open-string staircase with a ramped handrail, slender newel posts and stick balusters. Beneath the stair is a brick floor which may continue to the south bay. The ground floor rooms to the south end have chamfered axial ceiling beams with stepped stops, and the room above has a Regency-style cast iron fireplace. The fireplace to the north room is typical of the mid-C19 style but is re-used or reproduction. Throughout are early-C19 six-panel doors, one within an early-C19 doorcase. The south range is spanned by a Queen-post roof of re-used timbers, with C20 common rafters above.

History

Donnington Farm historically formed part of the Donnington Estate, serving as the home farm to Donnington Hall about 600m to the south. Donnington Hall (Grade II) was built in the mid-C18 and extensively remodelled and enlarged in 1909 but the survival of a late-C17 timber-framed tithe barn (Grade II) to the east, ridge and furrow in the surrounding fields, as well as a hollow way that connects the site of Donnington Hall with Donnington Farm, provides evidence for earlier origins. The north range of the farmhouse, comprising two storeys with an attic and cellar thought to be used to store fruit, appears to have been built in the mid-to late-C17, as suggested by its architectural form including principals with curved feet forming the roof trusses, cross windows, and a C17 staircase. The timber-framed shelter shed (Grade II) to the north-west of the house is also of this period, and was partly reconstructed in the early to mid-C18 when it is thought that the farm began to expand; additional farm buildings were added to the north, west and south side of the farmyard. By the mid-to late-C19 the farm building to the west had been extended to the north and south with hop kilns added to its west elevation.

The farmhouse is shown on the 1831 Ordnance Survey (OS) map which indicates that the farmhouse had been extended to the south by this time. It had also extended further to the west, doubling its footprint, to meet the farm building to the north; it is shown in this form on the subsequent tithe map for the parish of Donnington (1837). It is unclear whether this west range formed part of the domestic accommodation but given that it faced into the farmyard it is possible that it had an agricultural function. The 1st edition (1888) OS map illustrates that by the late-C19 this west range had largely been demolished leaving some ancillary structures attached to and detached from the farmhouse; these have all since been removed. The surviving south range suggests an early-C19 date but the chamfered beams to the ground floor of the south bay, as well as evidence for brick floors, differences in the external brickwork, changes in the first-floor floor levels, and the re-use of timbers to create a wide span Queen-post roof, points towards an early-C19 remodelling that incorporated earlier C18 structures.

In the late-C20 a large porch was added to the east elevation of the south range and the windows and doors to all the elevations of the farmhouse were replaced, including the mid-to late-C17 cross windows with leaded lights to the north elevation. The north range was refurbished at this time and its plan form altered, with the relocation of the staircase to the east wall, and the removal of the gable end stack to the west end.

Reasons for Listing

Donnington Farm and Japonica, a mid-to late-C17 farmhouse with an early-C19 range, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* as a good example of a regionally distinctive mid-to late-C17 farmhouse that reflects the architectural trends of its time, with local building traditions;
* as a multi-period farmhouse retaining a significant proportion of its original fabric from the C17 to the early-C19, including staircases, doors, chamfered and stopped beams, and roof trusses.

Historic interest:

* as evidence for the earliest phase of buildings associated with the Donnington Estate;
* for its retention of roof trusses comprising principals with curved feet, formerly commonly referred to as upper crucks, which contribute to a greater understanding of this feature nationally;
* for the legibility of its historic evolution in the surviving building fabric and its contribution to our understanding of the development of domestic architecture, and the changing relationship of the farmhouse with the farmstead over this period.

Group value:

* with the contemporary Grade-II listed shelter shed to the north-west which together represent the earliest phase of the farmstead;
* with the wider historic Donnington Estate which includes several listed buildings.

External Links

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