Newlands Farmhouse and attached outbuilding, Southwick and Widley, Hampshire

Summary

Former farmhouse, of around mid- to late-C17 origins, re-fronted and internally re-ordered in the C18 and extended in around C19, with a late-C19 linking range and attached pre-1839 outbuilding.

The lower late-C19 stable range, and attached to east, is not included in the listing**.

Description

Former farmhouse, of around mid- to late-C17 origins, re-fronted and internally re-ordered in the C18 and extended in around C19, with a late-C19 linking range and attached pre-1839 outbuilding.

The lower late-C19 stable range*, attached to east of the outbuilding range, is not included in the listing.

MATERIALS: a historic timber-frame core, with later brick elevations and additions. The roofs are covered in clay tile, with brick stacks. All the windows are uPVC replacements.

PLAN: the farmhouse has a double-pile plan on an east to west alignment; there is a symmetrical internal plan with rooms either side of a central passageway. Attached to the north-east is an outbuilding, on an east to west alignment.

EXTERIOR: a two-storey with cellar and attic, double-pile building which faces south. The front elevation is constructed in Hampshire red brick laid in Flemish bond with a blue-brick mid-band and a red-brick dentil eaves course. In the centre is a C19 pitched-roof porch within which is the entrance door. The symmetrical three-window fenestration has uPVC eight-over-eight horned-sash windows set in existing openings with rendered sills; the ground-floor windows have flat-segmental heads with brick voussoirs. There are cellar windows at the lower-ground level on the building’s south-east corner. There are pairs of gables to the side elevations. The east elevation and front west gable are clad in cementitious render; the rear west gable, which breaks forward of the front gable, is brick. There is a substantial rendered chimney breast with a brick stack on the front-west gable end, a small rendered lateral stack to the front- east gable, and a small attic uPVC casement window in each gable. There is also a brick stack over the rear-west gable, and curved segmental-headed uPVC casement windows in the rear-east gable. The rear brick elevation is laid in Sussex bond and topped by a dentil eaves course. The eastern half of the elevation is set slightly back and there is a change in roof pitch. The uPVC casements are within curved segmental-headed openings.

Attached to the rear of the house is a late-C19 brick infill structure with doors to the east and west. At right angles to the farmhouse is the single-storey linear brick range. The pre-1839 west end is laid in Sussex bond and has a half-hipped roof to the west and gable end to the east; there is no evidence of an external chimney stack. The south elevation has a large curved segmental-headed opening which has been infilled with a uPVC casement window and timber door, and an adjacent brick pilaster; the block opening indicates an original use as a coach house. On the north side is a lean-to. Attached the east of the outbuilding’s gable end is a late-C19 stable range* which is not included in the listing.

INTERIOR: the double-pile house has a largely symmetrical plan with rooms either side of a central passageway. There are timber floorboards of various dates throughout the front pile and on the first floor of the rear pile; some on the upper levels are wide planks, possibly made of elm. There are also various two, four and six-panel doors throughout the building; some with L-shaped hinges.

Within the front pile, the ground-floor rooms are at slightly different levels rising from west to east. The front-west room includes a chamfered ceiling beam with lambs-tongue stops at either end. The beam is off centre and most likely dates to the original C17 layout. The large fireplace on the west-end wall has been infilled and contains a mid-C20 fire surround. The front-east room has a fireplace with C19 cast-iron grate with timber surround. Within the central hall is an enclosed stair. Beneath the stair case is a set of brick steps with timber treads which lead down to the cellar; at ground-floor level the cellar steps are flanked by box framing to the east and stud wall framing to the west (both with brick infill).The brick cellar’s ceiling is supported by timber posts, and it has a brick floor, a blocked coal shoot, and large brick alcove to the north. The ground-floor central passageway continues into the rear pile. The rear-east room has a chamfered central ceiling beam with lamb-tongue stops at one end; this may be reused. There is a brick floor beneath the later covering and modern inbuilt kitchen cupboards. The rear-west room has a boxed in central ceiling beam. This room has a substantial chimney breast which has been infilled and contains a mid-C20 fire surround, and there are C19 inbuilt cupboards. There is an enclosed winder staircase in one corner with plank doors.

At first-floor level there is evidence for timber-framing with brick infill in the wall between the front and rear pile: to the east of the hallway there is box-framing with straight bracing and brick infill and to the west a top wall plate is evident. There is also evidence of box framing in the wall at this level to the right of the staircase. There are C19 cast-iron grates with timber surrounds in both front rooms, and an inbuilt cupboard on the side of the substantial chimney breast in the front-west room. To the rear there is a blocked door between the east and west rooms. The rear, west room, also reached via the winder stair, has a blocked fireplace with tile hearth, and it has been subdivided to form a bathroom and bedroom.

The attic level over the front pile has two rooms with plank doors either side of the staircase. The three-bay roof structure has two principal trusses with tie beams. The upper part of the trusses is sealed; however, the roof may be a collar-beam construction. There are pegged, staggered butt purlins. There appears to be timber-framing in the east-gable end.

Attached to the north side of the farmhouse is the linking range with a catslide roof supported by a central truss. To the east, a door in the former external west-end wall leads into the pre-1839 outbuilding. It has a rough-hewn, raked-strut, queen-post roof which retains evidence of the original east-end hipped roof structure beneath the later pitched roof; the trusses have been blackened by smoke. Against the north wall is a large fireplace with a cast-iron grate, and adjacent is a brick bread oven with cast-iron doors, these appear to be later insertions which indicate the building was converted to use as a form of bakehouse. Against the south wall, beside the infilled arch opening, a sink on a brick plinth has been added.

* Pursuant to s1 (5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (‘the Act’) it is declared that these aforementioned features are not of special architectural or historic interest. However, any works to these structures and/or features which have the potential to affect the character of the listed building as a building of special architectural or historic interest may still require Listed Building Consent (LBC) and this is a matter for the Local Planning Authority (LPA) to determine.

History

There is documentary evidence since at least the mid-C13 which makes reference to the site of Newlands Farm, also known as La Niweland and Newland Farm, as part of the estate of the Augustinian Southwick Priory (founded in 1122). The site may have formed a manor or grange farm, held by the Priory. In 1546, following the Dissolution, the Priory and its lands, including Newland, was granted to John White as part of the Southwick Estate. A mid- C16 probate inventory for Newlands Farm describes a house with a total of six rooms including a ground floor hall, a chamber, a buttery and kitchen, and first floor chambers. A late-C17 inventory describes a building with 11 rooms including a hall, a kitchen and buttery, several service rooms, including a milk house, a meal house and a wash house. Upstairs were a bedchamber and three further chambers. The inventory also mentions a garret (loft) used for storage.

The former farmhouse at Newlands Farm has a three-bay, timber-frame core which appears to be of around mid- to late-C17 origins, built to replace an earlier dwelling. In the C18, the building was re-fronted in Flemish-bond brick and given a symmetrical fenestration. The internal symmetrical plan also appears to date to this period. A 1790 marginal plan within the lease for Newlands Farm shows a building on the site of the farmhouse, an adjacent building, and buildings on the east edge of the farmyard to the south. In around the C19 the building was extended to form a double-pile plan. The Parish of Southwick Tithe Map (1839) depicts the farmhouse, a detached building to the north-east, two further detached buildings to the east and a pond. To the south the farmyard is depicted surrounded on three sides by farm buildings, including a two-porch threshing barn to the south. The size of the farmhouse’s footprint indicates the building may have been a single pile at this time, although the Tithe Map is not as detailed as later maps. The 1870 Ordnance Survey (OS) Map (First Edition; 1:10560) shows the farmhouse with the second pile to the rear, a front porch, and outbuildings with a similar arrangement to the Tithe map. By the 1879 OS Map (First Edition; 1:2500) the two outbuildings to the east of the farmhouse had been demolished. The detached outbuilding to the north-east had been linked to the farmhouse, it has also been extended to the east by the addition of a lower stable range. By this time the farmyard buildings to the south had been extended, including the addition of ranges on the north side of the yard and a granary building. By the 1897 OS Map (Second Edition: 1:2500) the link between the farmhouse and outbuilding range had been rebuilt. Since the early C20 the current building arrangement has been largely unchanged. All of the windows within the farmhouse have been replaced with uPVC frames within existing openings, and most likely in similar styles. The farmhouse remains in the Southwick estate until the early C21.

Reasons for Listing

Newlands Farmhouse and attached outbuilding is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* for the evidence of its historic C17 core, including box-framing, chamfered and stopped ceiling beam, and significant elements of the roof structure;
* for later modifications such as its C18 brick re-fronting which provide evidence for changes in architectural tastes.

Historic interest:

* for the legibility of its historic evolution in the surviving building fabric and its contribution to our understanding of developing local vernacular building traditions and domestic requirements.

External Links

Historic England Listing

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