Description

SY 09 SE NEWTON POPPLFORD VENN OTTERY
AND HARPFORD
4/91 Minors

GV II

House, former farmhouse. Early C16 with major late C16 and C17 improvements,
rearranged in C19, modernised and enlarged circa 1980. Plastered cob on stone rubble
footings , some C19 brick and extension of C20 concrete blocks; stone rubble and
ashlar stack with sandstone ashlar chimney shaft; thatch roof.
The main block faces north and is derived from a 3-room-and-through-passage plan
house. Since both ends were cut off in the C19 leaving the hall with narrow rooms
each end it is presently not possible to identify which end was originally the
service end and passage or the inner room. The hall has a large projecting front
lateral stack with a secondary oven projection. Rear block of circa 1980 projects
at right angles behind the left (eastern) end. It has 2 rooms side by side behind a
large entrance hall with the main stair. There is another circa 1980 stair at the
left (western) end of the main block.
2 storeys. Irregular 3-window front of C19 and C20 casements with glazing bars.
The left end window is flanked by sloping buttresses. The hall stack has weathered
offsets and a double shaft of ashlar with soffit-moulded coping. Roof is half-
hipped to left and gable-ended to right. Similar casements to rear of main block
and the extension also has casements with glazing bars and harmonises well with the
main block.
Interior. The oldest feature exposed is the roof structure. 4-bay roof is carried
on side-pegged jointed cruck trusses. The central hall truss has chamfered arch-
bracing with a dimple at the apex giving the impression of an ogee arch. Only the
small section of roofspace over the left (eastern) room is exposed and the original
timbers are smoke-blackened indicating that the original house was open from end to
end, divided by low partitions and heated by an open hearth fire. Both end walls
appear to include trusses. None of the low partition screens survive. The trusses
each end of the hall were filled with full height oak-framed partitions, probably in
the mid C16. Part of the left (eastern) framing is exposed at ground level. At the
other end the framing has been dismantled at ground floor level. About the same
time the hall fireplace was inserted; its sides are Beerstone ashlar and the oak
lintel is soffit-chamfered with step stops. The oven was inserted later and is now
blocked. The hall was eventually floored in the C17. It has a 3-bay ceiling
carried on soffit-chamfered and scroll-stopped crossbeams. The hall stack appears
to have been adapted to accommodate a now blocked first floor fireplace at this
time. The circa 1980 rear block includes some old beams introduced from elsewhere.
The size of the hall and its arch-braced open truss indicate that this was a
substantial late medieval house.

Listing NGR: SY0777691210

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26434151

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

• 
  Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]
• 
  Farrow & Ball How to Decorate: Transform your home with paint & paper
• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)