Upper Manor Farmhouse, Longstock, Hampshire

Summary

House, late C15 or early C16 and later C19 with later C20 and C21 additions and alterations.

Description

House, late C15 or early C16 and later C19 with later C20 and C21 additions and alterations.

MATERIALS: the C15 or C16 section is timber-framed, clad in brick or rendered, and is predominantly replaced in brick on the ground floor; the C19 section is in soft red brick laid in Flemish bond, with the southern garden elevation rendered; both ranges have tile roofs.

PLAN: the C15 or C16 section is of two storeys in three structural bays aligned south-west to north-east, with a hipped roof, formerly half-hipped, to the south-west and a large internal brick stack at the eastern end, with the remains of a fourth bay embedded in the later building. It was originally arranged as a half-floored hall, that is, of two bays at lower level but with only one rising the full height. The taller C19 section is of two storeys and attics, in two parallel gabled ranges aligned north-west to south-east, but with a linking ridge roof on the main axis of the house, and with an internal stack on the north-east range. Entrances are placed centrally on the northern and southern elevations, with a secondary entrance on the north-east elevation, facing the former farmyard.

EXTERIOR: the northern elevation of the C15 or C16 section is in two full storeys and two window bays, with C20 timber casements of three and four lights, some on the first floor clearly in early openings with C17 frames and mullions. A small window lights a cupboard adjacent to the stack, which above the ridge is of C19 brick, with a moulded band. The south-west wall is in C20 brick, cladding the timber frame at first-floor level. The southern elevation is of one and a half storeys, with a C20 outer wall of brick piers and full-height glazing on the ground floor beneath a deep catslide roof, and with small dormers in the C15 frame at first floor level. A single-storey C20 or C21 gabled entrance and store projects at the southern corner.

The northern elevation of the C19 section is symmetrical, with a single window on each storey of each gabled bay, with the entrance beneath a first floor window below the valley. Windows are C19 two-over-two pane sashes with slender glazing bars, and without horns, and have masonry cills and flat arches with concrete lintels. The entrance has a similar lintel and a C20 glazed door beneath a plain overlight. The gables project with plain bargeboards.

The southern elevation is similarly proportioned, with a central entrance beneath a canopy (under repair at time of visit, Feb 2018) and a wide door of four near-flush panels. Windows are predominantly C19 two-over-two pane sashes beneath slightly cambered arches, diminishing in size on each storey, except for a tall stair window in the left-hand bay which has an arched head and margin glazing, and small flanking bathroom windows.

The north-east elevation is asymmetrical with an entrance to the left, reached by steps, in a simplified moulded doorcase beneath a flat timber canopy supported on brackets; the door has six moulded panels. Windows are two-over-two pane sashes beneath cambered brick arches.

INTERIOR:
The ground floor of the late C15 or early C16 range is opened up as the kitchen with only some of the posts and bridging beams remaining in place, including a substantial transverse beam with 3” chamfers on both faces, which Edward Roberts believes to indicate the separation between the full-height hall to the east and the single-storey space beneath chamber above, to the west. The bressumer on the chimneybreast has a 2” chamfer. At first-floor level the timber frame is largely intact and exposed, and has substantial jowled posts, some with a rough 2” chamfer and some with traces of a former paint scheme. The lateral walls have long arched braces, while the gable wall has small panels with arched braces. The central window on the northern elevation has moulded, probably C17 mullions. The central transverse beam to the two-bay chamber, which equates with the south-western room of the current house, is also chamfered, and has mortices for former joists. Exposed at first floor level in the adjoining lobby, the truss above the hall of the medieval house has a heavily sooted tie beam with void mortices for arched braces and later studding, and at the southern end is partly covered by oak panelling, probably C17 in date. A slender, possibly later C17 or C18, door has two large fielded panels.

The roof space is heavily sooted especially above the inner bays. The stack within the innermost bay is of 9.5” x 2” brick. The partition wall between the stack and the Victorian range is of red, grey and burnt brick. The roof structure has robust trusses, with vertical struts rising from the tie beams to support the collars, but with some intervening collars missing, square-cut side purlins with arched wind braces surviving in most bays, and paired rafters without a ridge piece. The southern end of the roof has been altered from the original half hip to form a fully hipped roof. The roof is sooted and smoke blackened, particularly towards the stack.

The C19 ranges had been opened up on the ground floor, removing the original partition walls that formed the passage from the central entrance; one has been rebuilt. The stairs, at the rear of the house, have a closed string, columnar turned newels and stick balusters; the original flight runs from ground to first floor. The principal ground floor rooms have mostly C20 moulded cornices, some C19 skirtings and retain their C19 window shutters, fixtures and fittings. Original chimney pieces and fireplaces have been removed or heavily altered except for one on the first floor which has a simple surround and round-arched cast iron grate. Doors on the ground and first floors are generally of four panels, those on the first floor in deep moulded architraves; attic doors are boarded.

History

Upper Manor Farmhouse dates from the late C15 or early C16, the south-western section of the house consisting of three bays and the remains of a fourth of a late C15 or early C16 timber-framed house. Edward Roberts, leading authority on medieval houses in Hampshire, has noted that four bays is the exception for Hampshire farmhouses of this date, and that the hall itself is of two bays. The hall is also a half-floored hall, that is, of two bays at lower level but with only one rising the full height.

In the mid- to later C19, and present by 1871 (1:2500 Ordnance Survey Map), the house was extended by the addition of effectively a new brick-built house, attached to the east. In the later C20 and C21 the ground floor of the C15 house was opened up to form a large kitchen which incorporates an extension on the south-east side, replacing an earlier structure on the back of the house, perhaps a lean-to outshut, shown on OS mapping with what appears to be a porch by 1871.

The 1871 map indicates the layout of the associated farmyard immediately to the north of the house and its gardens. It was lined by buildings including a large structure, probably a barn, to the east of the house, a small building, perhaps a granary, to the north-west of it, and the extant long range on the roadside. There was a smaller building on the axis of the house to the south-west and a small structure in the garden to the south-east. The same general plan was present in 1911, by which time a long range had been added along the south-west boundary in the position of the current late C20 garages.

Only the roadside range of the former farmyard is standing in 2018, and is undergoing conversion to provide an office and workshop/studio. It comprises a long, low, pitched-roofed building of which the southern bay, facing the house, is of soft red brick in Flemish bond, but with the south-eastern, entrance wall, partition wall and roof rebuilt in C20 and C21. The majority of the building is an open-fronted barn or shed with the rear, roadside wall in brick and blockwork, and a C20 roof.

Reasons for Listing

Upper Manor Farmhouse, of late C15 or early C16 date, extended in the later C19 is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* a substantial late C15 or early C16 timber frame and smoke-blackened roof structure, with evidence for a half-floored hall and inserted brick stack;

* subsequent alterations and additions, including an upper floor mullioned window and panelling, and although altered, the C19 wing.

Historic interest:

* an evolving house and farmstead, dating from at least the late C15.

External Links

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