The Old House, including low brick wall topped with iron railings to the front garden, Brewood, Staffordshire

Summary

House to a maltings, C18 with later alterations. The modern extensions to the north and west are excluded from the listing.

Description

House to a maltings, C18 with later alterations.

MATERIALS: red brick laid in Flemish garden wall bond, with tiled roofs and brick chimneystacks.

PLAN: the Old House and Grain Ridge (Grade II) are a linear range running approximately east-west, set back from the north side of Sandy Lane.

The Old House stands to the west. It is a three-bay range, with historic extensions to the rear. It was extended further in 2019 (not included in the listing). Internally, the main range is laid out with two principal rooms to each floor with a central stair hall, with a further room within each of the two rear ranges.

Grain Ridge is adjacent to the east.

EXTERIOR: the Old House is a three-bay, two-storey building with an attic over the main range. It has a roughly symmetrical elevation, slightly wider on the western side. There is a central front door with a shallow timber awning and a small window to the right. The door itself is plank timber, probably C19, with a glazed light. There is a window to each bay of each storey; all are in cambered openings with rough brick arches. Ground-floor windows have six lights with timber mullions and a transom; the first-floor windows have three lights with mullions, with a narrower, two-light central window. The glass is leaded, replaced, probably in the second half of the C20. There is a dentil cornice to the eaves, and the roof is pitched and has gable stacks – partially rebuilt.

The rear elevation has a large C21 extension on the ground floor (not included in the listing). Above, the historic arrangement remains evident: the original rear wall of the main range is visible at attic level; the dentil cornice lines the eaves, interrupted where a pitched dormer was inserted in the 1980s. There are two, two-storey ranges with pitched roofs projecting from the rear elevation; that to the east has two pairs of casements, and the dentil cornice to the eaves suggests it is contemporary with the main range. The western range has a multi-light bow window in the gable. Between these projecting ranges, an outshut roof above the ground floor remains visible.

The attic level of the east gable remains visible, and has a small window opening. The ground and first floors are obscured by extensions.

INTERIOR: the house, originally, appears to have been a two-cell plan with a central stair, rising from cellar to attic, and through-passage, and a projecting rear wing to the north-east. The additional north-west rear range had been added by 1838. The western principal room on the ground floor has a deep axial ceiling beam with chamfers and lamb’s tongue stops. At the west end a transverse beam, a short distance out from the chimneybreast, takes its weight. The chamfer stop is further away again, and may indicate a reduction in depth of an earlier inglenook fireplace. Squared joists support the floor above. A doorway has been inserted in the north wall. Within the room on the east the floor frame has been ceiled and the axial joist boxed in. The brick fireplace, behind a later chimneypiece, bears evidence of modification. There is a window seat, and the window frames have catches for shutters. The central hallway is quarry tiled, and the stair has stout square newels with turned balusters and a wide moulded handrail.

To the rear of the hallway the opening in the original rear wall is splayed outwards, and has an over-light in a timber frame. There is a small lobby area, and a second opening with a dressed stone arched lintel. There are small rooms to either side, within the two perpendicular rear ranges. That to the east is the former kitchen; the match-boarded ceiling and narrow chamfered joists are characteristic of the late C19, and within the rear wall there is a blocked brick arch adjacent to a later arched opening. In the west room, the transverse joists are exposed.

The cellar is accessed by a flight of brick steps beneath the main stair. It occupies the space beneath the eastern half of the house and central hallway. There is a ground-level opening within the front wall, and a blocked arch in the rear wall. There is a well with an iron cover in the south-east corner.

The first floor, like the ground floor, has two principal rooms within the main range, with a further room within each of the rear ranges. The western principal room has a small brick fireplace with moulded stone lintel, with a later chimneypiece. There is a pair of small cupboards above the fireplace, and chamfered axial ceiling beam. The eastern room has a chimneypiece matching that in the room below, with a small brick opening with an iron grate. There is a built-in cupboard and drawers, and a chamfered ceiling beam. The turned balusters around the stairwell on the first-floor landing differ to those above and below, and appear to be of an earlier date.

The exposed fabric and timbers within the eastern of the rear rooms suggest an early date. A section of missing plaster exposes wide boards acting as a substrate. Wall plates and purlins are very roughly hewn, and vacant mortises suggest the timbers are reused. There are two pairs of casement windows in the gable; they are irregular, apparently being insertions, one of which has a peculiar arrangement with one casement angled outwards, with a narrow light linking the two. Within the western rear room the purlins are more finely hewn, suggesting a more recent date. The multi-light bow window in the gable is likely to be a C20 replacement.

The stair to the attic has square newels with an inserted balustrade matching that on the ground floor stair. On the landing a doorway has been inserted providing access to a bathroom within the rear dormer. There is a room on either side, each accessed by doorways with pegged frames. Floors have wide boards. The eastern room has a small cast iron chimneypiece. The deep purlins of the roof structure are exposed; those within the eastern room are more roughly hewn and bear signs of reuse. The roof structure consists of pegged coupled rafters with carpenter’s marks.

The house retains a good collection of historic doors in historic architraves: four- and six-panel, and ledge and plank, with strap and L-hinges. While some appear to be in their original locations, denoting the hierarchy of rooms, others have been inserted.

SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: the front garden, to the south, is enclosed by a low brick wall topped with iron railings.

Pursuant to s1 (5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (‘the Act’) it is declared that the C21 extensions to the north and west of the Old House are not of special architectural or historic interest.

History

The Old House and Grain Ridge are likely to originate in the C18. A date stone inscribed ‘1723’ protrudes from an elevation of the latter, though may have been repositioned. The building complex is an example of a maltings with an attached dwelling house, with ancillary structures to the rear.

The first map evidence for the building dates from 1808. The Tithe map of 1838 shows the building more clearly, with its irregular linear plan, and then the 1884 Ordnance Survey shows that by that stage, the building had been developed almost to the extent it exists today.

The Old House is purported to be the earliest domestic building in Sandy Lane. The existing fabric appears largely C18, though there is a dressed stone arch, and timber within the north-east wing which may have been reused or incorporated from an earlier structure. The Old House, also known as ‘Sunnyside’ for a period in the C20, has a roughly symmetrical main range. It is slightly larger on the west side. Internally, the arrangement of ceiling beams, and position of the chimneybreast above, suggests a large ground-floor inglenook may have been reduced in size. There are two perpendicular pitched two-storey ranges to the rear. That to the east shares dentil course detailing, and is presumed to be coeval with the main range, or perhaps was an existing structure, remodelled at that time. The house has recently had a large ground floor extension to the rear, and a first-floor extension above the garage (not included in the listing).

Grain Ridge (listed at Grade II) originated as a maltings, and is contemporary with the main range of the Old House. Malting was common in Staffordshire, and Brewood was well-placed logistically, with the Shropshire Union Canal 400m to the south-west. The site, too, was advantageous, having access to water via a well, which survives in the cellar of the Old House. Grain Ridge was converted to a dwelling, probably between 1937 and 1945.

Reasons for Listing

The Old House is listed at Grade II, for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* as a structure dating from the C18 which retains a significant proportion of its historic fabric;
* it remains legible representation of a smart dwelling constructed as part of a small-scale industrial complex, reflecting the relative prosperity of the business through its composition, and the quality of its construction and detailing;
* it survives well, with its unaltered main elevation, legible plan form, and collection of internal fittings.

Historic interest:

* the building complex provides historic information about the development of maltings prior to their industrialisation and enlargement in the C19;
* located in a part of the country closely associated with the development of the industry, and reflective of the relative prosperity of the enterprise.

Group value:

* with the adjoining malthouse, listed at Grade II, built contemporaneously.

External Links

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