Description

1584/0/10007
18-NOV-03

MONTFORD
Farmhouse at Forton East Farm

II

Farmhouse. Late-C14/early-C15 core to N with crosswing to NE, extended in the C17/C18 to E at S end, remodelled in the mid-C19 with addition of wing to S.
EXTERIOR: NORTH section of house and attached N cross wing form the primary description. Hand-made brick in a mixed bond; slate roof with dentilled eaves and overhanging boarded eaves to gables. Large external brick stack in stretcher bond with blue brick cornice to N gable end. 2 storeys and attic. 2 multipane metal-framed casement windows with segmental arched heads to N elevation. To NE elevation, multipane metal-framed casement window with segmental arched head to first floor and square head to second floor, blocked loft apex opening under eaves, and C20 window with segmental-arched doorway at ground floor. Embedded in the brickwork to right of the stack is a cruck-blade, with further elements of timber framing. WEST elevation has 3-window range of large pane sashes with painted lintels to ground floor, slate roof and blue brick corniced stack. Taller SOUTH mid-C19 crosswing has the main entrance with gabled porch, 4-panelled part-glazed door with overlight, 2-window range of similar windows, canted full length bay at right. C20 extension to rear.
INTERIOR: In NORTH range, 2 pairs of crucks survive. The N pair of crucks appears to have been the end wall of the building and was closed, joined by an upper and lower collar and jointed with pegged mortice and tenon joints. The S pair of crucks are of similar dimensions but differently infilled, and have 1 collar with evidence of arch-bracing. Further cruck-frames probably existed to S where the mid-C19 crosswing now stands. The cruck blades are traceable and further frame elements may exist behind later plaster. In the lower floor of the surviving cruck-framed bay is a plank and muntin partition at S, the N part not surviving though the mortices indicate its former continuation. The ceiling is of wide joists tenoned into the chamfered cross-beam. First floor has timber ceiling with cross beam joined to the exposed collar and lighter joists. Remains of a timber spiral stair. The NE wing also has timber-framing and beamed and joist ceilings. Mid-C19 remodelling includes hall with archway and staircase with moulded handrail and stick balusters; cornice mouldings, doors and doorcases.
HISTORY: Richard Morriss speculates that the surviving cruck-framed bay may have been the service bay of a hall house. The screen would have separated pantry and buttery, with chamber above. Further hall bays open to the roof and suggested by the arch-bracing to the S frame would have adjoined to S. There could have been a further storeyed bay at S end matching that to N, the high and low status ends respectively. Such 3-unit cruck-framed hall houses survive more commonly in N and E Wales but less so on the English side. This core seems to have been extended C17-C18 to the E, at which time the building would have been L-shaped. The mid-C19 remodelling created more elegant reception rooms and hall at S end.
SOURCE: Morriss, Richard K. Forton East Farm - An Appraisal of the Cruck-Framing, 2002.

A farmhouse primarily of interest for its earliest north wing, possibly dating from the late-C14/mid-C15 and with two surviving pairs of crucks, extended in the C17-C18, and remodelled in the mid-C19.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26670122

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

• 
  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Sheffield and the South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 6: Westminster (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England): Westminster v. 6
• 
  Listed Buildings, Conservation Areas and Monuments
• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)
• 
  Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)