Description

COMBERBACH

624/0/10002 Avenue Farm
16-MAR-04

II
Farmhouse. c.1845 with c.1865 west service wing, minor C20 alterations and additions. Built for William Eaton (d.1857), gentleman and landowner, as part of his agricultural estate. Red brick laid to English Garden Wall bond and Flemish Bond patterns with painted dressings, oversailing eaves, decorative barge boards, ridge and gable wall stacks and a slate roof. Tudor Gothic style.

PLAN: Linear plan with house and attached service range aligned to enclose one side of small yard.

Exterior: Symmetrical 2-storeyed front elevation to main section of house in Flemish Bond of 3 bays with central doorway set within open porch with timber columns. Four-panel door with rectangular overlight set between moulded pilasters with cusped heads to panel mouldings. Flanking the doorway are stacked window openings below painted hoodmoulds, with coupled 4 over 4 pane sash frames, the upper sashes with intersecting glazing bars forming Gothic-style arches. Three first floor windows similarly detailed. Two chimney stacks to each gable end on ridge line. Exposed gable to E end with decorative fretwork bargeboards and finial, 6 narrow windows, the central ground and upper floor windows opening blind, the others with coupled 2 over 2 pane sashes detailed in matching style to the front elevation. Rear elevation has central doorway with 2-light sash window above, wide 2-light stair window with 6 over 4 coupled sashes, and blind window opening to left of doorway; all windows displaying hoodmoulds in style of S and E elevations. Advanced lean-to at right-hand end of rear elevation forms part of more simply-detailed 2 bay attached service range. Attached west (service) wing has 2 large flat-arched casement windows to S (front) elevation on ground floor with doorway to W end, and 2 slightly smaller flat-arched windows to the first floor. Brickwork is a mixture of Flemish Bond and English Garden Wall Bond. Chimney stacks to centre and W end.

INTERIOR: The original plan appears little altered although 2 doorways leading off the main hall have been blocked up with access to the 2 rooms flanking this space retained from the stair hall. Lounge at far E end of house opened up to incorporate former pantry at rear of property. Original fireplaces removed to ground floor. Marble and cast-iron fireplaces retained to first floor. Fielded panelled doors set within moulded architraves, dado panelling and window and archway reveals. Deep moulded cornicing throughout building with decorated reliefs to main hall and first floor landing ceiling. Main straight-flight stair with stick balusters, panelled under-stair screen, and decorative 'wave' design cut string.

HISTORY: Avenue Farmhouse appears to be one of a number of farm dwellings built for William Eaton's estate in Comberbach. The house was tenanted until 1918, at which time it was sold to the then tenants.

SUMMARY OF IMPORTANCE: Avenue Farmhouse is a well-preserved estate farmhouse of c.1845 which characterises the architecture of display and 'improvement' which was such a powerful influence in the English countryside during the mid-C19.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q62086111

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

• 
  Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East: Norwich and North-east v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Warwickshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Hampshire: South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings