Description

WITLEY

1801/0/10054 LOWER MOUSEHILL LANE
16-JUN-10 Milford
(North side)
Dairy Farm House

II
Farm house, now house. The original wing, aligned north-west to south-east is late C16 with a late C17 north-east staircase addition, the ground floor partly refronted in the C18 and restored in the 1920s. The early C20 L-wing is of lesser interest.

MATERIALS: Timber framed with plastered or red brick infill. The ground floor of the south-west front is faced in local stone rubble with galleting on the ground floor and tile-hung above. The south-east end is faced in red brick in stretcher bond on the ground floor and tile-hung above. Tiled roof, hipped to the north-west and half-hipped to the south-east with moulded brick off central ridge chimneystack.

PLAN: A three-bay lobby-entrance house, modified by an external staircase addition to the north-east and an early C20 L-wing.

EXTERIOR: The south-west elevation was the original entrance front but the main entrance opposite the chimneystack was replaced by a window in the early C20. The first floor has a restored small casement window and three early C20 wooden casement windows with leaded lights, including one in a projecting oriel supported on wooden brackets with gabled roof. The ground floor has three deep early C20 casements with leaded lights. The north-west side has exposed framing with midrail and two diagonal tension braces, with brick infill, except at the top, which is plastered. There is a four-light early C20 casement on each floor.

The north-east elevation has exposed timber framing with plastered infill with diagonal tension braces and erection slots. Each floor has two restored small diamond mullioned windows. At the southern end is the penticed projecting staircase addition, also timber framed with plastered infill with one visible diagonal brace. There is a restored diamond mulloned window. Its north-west return has a plank door with pintle hinges. The south-east end is faced with brick on the ground floor with tile-hanging above. Each floor has an early C20 wooden casement window and there is a large early C20 brick porch with hipped tiled roof and ribbed plank door with pintle hinges. The early C20 north-east wing is of brick on the ground floor, tile-hung above with tiled roof and has wooden casement windows with leaded lights.

INTERIOR: Access to the original part of the building is now through the C20 porch on the south-east side. This leads into the south-east ground floor room which retains the exposed frame on three sides with ground plate now above the current floor level and a spine beam with square floor joists. The north-western wall has a fine four-centred arched brick fireplace retaining a bread oven. An early C20 ledged oak door adjoining leads directly to the staircase.

The lobby beside the fireplace leads into the north-western room, originally two rooms, divided by a central partition which has been removed. The former central bay has a similar arched brick fireplace but without any traces of a bread oven, timber framed side walls and a chamfered spine beam with chamfered floor joists. Early C20 chamfered posts are on the line of the removed partition wall. The former end bay has exposed wall framing and a chamfered spine beam but with square floor joists. The staircase is a half-winder and has an early C20 cupboard near its base. On the first floor is an internal diamond-mullioned window to the original exterior wall, there is a corridor at the southern end of the first floor, and the top of the brick chimneystack is visible with a sizeable gap between it and the nearest truss. A tie beam in front of the entrance to the south-eastern bedroom has been shaped to provided more headroom. The door into this bedroom is an early C20 ledged oak door. This room has exposed wall framing and a roof truss with angled queen struts. The internal partition has a midrail and two slightly curved tension braces. Its centre post has a series of rush light marks. The central first-floor room has two queen-post trusses (one with an undulating shaped tie beam), clasped purlins and the wall frame is visible. On the south-eastern wall is a smaller four-centred arched brick fireplace. Next to it is a cupboard door to a recess around the chimneystack with an early C20 oak door. The north-western first-floor room has exposed timber framing with a slightly curved tension brace visible and the north-western wall has early C20 double cupboards. The northern part of the first floor retains some original floor boards.

HISTORY: The original north-west to south-east aligned wing was built in the late C16 as a timber framed three-bay lobby-entrance farm house. In the later C17 an external staircase was added on the north-east side. The original part of the building is shown on the 1871 Ordnance Survey sheet unnamed. A footpath is shown leading to the front entrance about two thirds down the south-west elevation in a position opposite the chimneystack. A small building is shown to the north-east, which appears to be detached, and a well is marked to the south-east. The map also shows an outbuilding to the south-east of the house. Some distance to the north a range of farm building are shown. There is no change at all recorded by the 1897 edition of the Ordnance Survey map. By the 1916 edition the house is labelled Dairy House Cottage, the footpath is no longer shown at all and the small outbuilding to the north-east has been demolished. The house seems likely to have changed by this date from a farm house to a farm cottage.

Two photographs taken in the early C20, probably not long after the First World War, show the south-west side with main entrance opposite the chimneystack and two small casement windows on each floor. The photograph of the north-west side shows one small window opening on the first floor only and at this date the north-east side has a stone pentice. It is thought that the building was refurbished in the 1920s, which included adding further windows, enlarging the ground-floor windows, lowering the original ground floor to gain height and the replacement of some floor joists. Also in the early C20 an L-wing was added to the north-east in matching materials. By this time the building had ceased to be a farm house and the farm buildings nearby had passed into separate ownership.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION:
* Plan form: a little-altered late C16 three-bay lobby-entrance plan with late C17 staircase addition
* Materials: late C16 timber frame with large brick chimneystack and C18 local stone cladding with galleting
* Constructional details: these include carpenters' marks, edge-halved joints with square abutments and sockets for erecting the timber frame
* Decorative details: these include three fine late C16 four-centred arched brick fireplaces, chamfered spine beams and floor joists and a bread oven. Early C20 good quality late Arts and Crafts style fittings include ledged oak door with ornamental hinges, cupboards and wooden casments with leaded lights
* Intactness: the timber frame survives substantially intact except on the first floor where the C20 wing was attached. The main elements of the C16 roof structure are visible internally.

Reasons for Listing

Dairy Farm House is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Plan form: the late C16 plan form of three-bay lobby-entrance house is still readable; the late C17 staircase addition enhances the building's interest.
* Materials: the late C16 timber frame survives substantially intact and is partially exposed externally with the addition of some C18 local stone cladding with galleting to the south-west side.
* Constructional details: these include carpenters' marks, edge halved scarf joints with square abutments and sockets for erecting the timber frame on the north-east side.
* Decorative details: these include three fine late C16 four-centred arched fireplaces, chamfered spine beams and floor joists and a bread oven. There are also early C20 good quality late Arts and Crafts style fittings including ledged oak doors with ornamental hinges, cupboards imitating C17 examples and wooden casements with leaded lights.
* Intactness: the timber frame survives substantially intact except on the first floor where the C20 wing was attached. The main elements of the late C16 roof stucture are visible internally.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26672982

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

• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Handbook 2 Books Bundle Collection (Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair,Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability)
• 
  Harrow on the Hill: A photographic portrayal of listed buildings and structures (Historic Buildings Picture Guides)
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of History Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Liverpool: Pevsner City Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)