Listing Text

GOSFORD AND WATER EATON

1712/5/36 A 34
25-SEP-86 PEAR TREE HILL
(East side)
Frieze Farmhouse

II

Also Known As: FRIES FARM, PEAR TREE HILL
Farmhouse with probably late C17 core, successively expanded in the C18 and earlier C19. Irregular L-plan.

MATERIALS: Coursed limestone rubble with squared dressings. Concrete tile roof. Tile-hung early C19 timber-framed bay to left with slate roof.

EXTERIOR: Of two storeys. Original two-unit building with gable chimney (top rebuilt in brick) to left; one- and three-light windows to first floor with flat stone arches. Door, with single-light widows to either side, to centre; earlier blocked door to right. Right gable has two- and three-light windows to first floor, and three-light to ground floor. Several of the windows are leaded and of the C18. Right-hand wing, probably late C18, has three-light segmental-arched casements facing left and two-light facing right, and a gable-end brick chimney. Tile-hung early-mid C19 bay to left has 12-pane sashes with architraves and a fairly shallow hipped slate roof. The single-storey, catslide -roofed range to the rear is of stone and at least two phases, both later than the original building but earlier than the tile-hung range.

INTERIOR: The original chimney retains its internal coarse plaster lining, perhaps original. Internal doors, skirting boards and fittings largely C18 and C19. Right-hand wing has C19 wall cupboards to either side of gable fireplace. Good quality early C20 free-standing oak staircase and landing introduced to the farmhouse from another building. Cellar (not seen) reported under right end of original building.

SUMMARY OF IMPORTANCE: Frieze Farmhouse is a typical example of a modest Oxfordshire vernacular building of the late C17, which between the C18 and C19 was successively enlarged until it became what might be characterised as a typical farmhouse. It has seen little if any later alteration, and retains a good range of original fixtures and fittings.