Description

HARTLAND
SS 22 NE

2/139 Long Furlong Farmhouse

2.6.77

- II

House formerly farmhouse. Late C15 with alterations in the first half of the C17
when it was possibly extended, modernised and altered in later C20. Walls of very
small slate stone rubble whitewashed at the front. Gable-ended natural slate roof.
2 axial stacks which are of stone rubble and circular in design - the left-hand one
is a crude C20 replica of the other which has a dripcourse and chamfered corners and
is probably Medieval. 2 small brick stack to rear wing.
Plan: original plan not entirely clear, basically either 2 or 3 room-and-through-
passage with probably integral garderobe and dairy wing at front of lower end to
right. Built as an open hall house with central hearth, the lower end appears
always to have been floored with a heated solar on the first floor. At the front of
the lower end is a short very narrow 2 storey wing which contains the remains of a
garderobe in the end wall reached through a closet on the first floor and with a
service room below. Beyond the hall, and with a full-height solid wall dividing
them, is a further room which is likely to be a C17 addition but exhibits no early
features although it did formerly have some early C17 plasterwork on the first
floor. It is likely to have been added during the first half of the C17 when the
hall was floored and a stack inserted on the rear wall of the lower room. The hall
at present has a stack at its higher end which bears no evidence of an early
fireplace so it is uncertain how it was heated in the C17. The room beyond it
formerly had a stack in its end wall but this has been rebuilt in the 2nd half of
the C20. This occured at a time when the house was undergoing extensive renovation
which invovled the removal or destruction of a number of early features such as roof
trusses, windows and plasterwork and with then evidence of the early development and
form of the house. The plan on the ground floor was also altered, the through-
passage removed and a larger entrance hall created, presumably taking space out of
the former hall, with a C20 staircase and a small room beside it. Outbuilding wing
behind right end converted to further accommodation.
Exterior: 2 storeys. Traditional asymmetrical 4-window front with narrow wing
projecting from the right angle, probably C17 gable to left of centre which has a
straight joint to its left. Early C19 12-pane sashes to right on the 1st floor and
at the centre on ground floor with a 20-pane sash to its left. Paired early C19 9-
pane sashes to the right on the ground floor. C19 2-light small-paned casement on
lst floor of large gable to left and small single C19 light to its right. To the
right of that is a late C19 6-pane sash. To left on the ground floor is a 2-light
C20 small-paned casement. C20 plank door to right of centre under slate hood. Very
narrow wing projecting from right end has two C20 small-paned 2-light casements on
the 1st floor and a 4-light C20 casement below. Rear elevation has late C20 PVC
windows without glazing bars and an inserted late C20 glazed door to right of
centre. Long former outbuilding wing projects from left end and this overlaps a
blocked medieval stone doorway on the rear wall of the house which is chamfered with
Tudor arched head.
Interior: former hall has ovolo-moulded cross-beam with ogee moulded joists and a
chamfered half-beam at the left end which appears to have had the chimney stack
inserted in front of it. The right-hand room has chamfered and hollow step-stopped
cross beams with similarly decorated joists. C17 open fireplace on rear wall has
chamfered dressed stone jambs and a chamfered and ogee-stopped wooden lintel. In
the small front wing the shaft to the garderobe can be seen in the end wall on the
ground floor. The ceiling retains its original wide flat joists. The chamber over
the lower end, formerly the solar has a small medieval fireplace which has a rough
stone lintel supported on paired curved stone corbels to either side, at the rear of
the fireplace are slates set in herringbone pattern and the hearth is of slates set
on edge with a chamfered stone plinth in front. To either side of the fireplace is
a small projecting stone probably for holding candles.
Roof: the medieval roof survives only over the hall and consists of 2 cruck type
trusses with no joints visible on the principals, arch-braced collars, threaded
purlins and one tier of chamfered and curved windbraces. At the apex is a yoke
which apparently took a square set ridge although that has now gone. The timbers
are smoke-blackened as is the wall at the lower end of the hall. Early trusses also
existed over the solar and garderobe wing of less elaborate construction but these
were removed in the C20 restoration.
Despite the considerable C20 alterations this house remains a very interesting
building with unusual features such as the garderobe and medieval fireplace and it
obviously remained a building of considerable status well into the C17. It retains
an attractive facade and occupies a prominent roadside position.
Source: Dr N Alcock - Unpublished report; album of photographs taken during C20
restoration, in the possession of the owners.

Listing NGR: SS2562726305

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26398456

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

• 
  Surrey (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
• 
  Department for Communities Listed Historic Buildings of Northern Ireland: Information Guide for the 2nd Survey of Historic Buildings
• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  ENGLAND GUIDE TO POST WAR LISTED: A Guide to Post-war Listed Buildings
• 
  Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)