Description

Farmhouse, built in the early C17, aggrandised c.1730, and extended in the C19.

MATERIALS: It is of roughcast render with concrete tiled roofs.

PLAN: The house is U-shaped in plan, comprising a main range aligned north to south with cross wings at each end. Due to the fact that the left-hand (southern) cross wing has the same architectural detailing and steeply pitched roof as the principal elevation, it is believed that the farmhouse was originally of an L-shaped plan before a cross wing was added to the right hand end in the C19.

EXTERIOR: The principal (east) elevation is of two storeys plus attics with a five-bay façade of which the central bay projects forward. To the ground floor of the central projecting bay there is a raised and fielded wooden door of eight panels with an eight-light cambered head fanlight and flat wooden porch hood supported on wooded brackets. On either side of the doorway there are segmental-headed 12-light sashes with plain stone surrounds and corbelled sill brackets. Between the first and ground floor there is a plat band and to the first floor there are five segmental-headed 12-light sashes with plain stone surrounds and corbelled sill brackets.

To the rear elevation of the left-hand cross wing a plat band separates the ground and first floor with a segmental-headed 12-light sash with corbelled sill brackets to the ground floor and a segmental-headed nine-light sash with radial bars and corbelled sill brackets above. To the attic storey, which was used for cheese drying, there is an eight-light round window that replaced a louvered window.

The ground floor of the south elevation contains three irregularly-spaced window openings, possibly created in the late C19 or C20, with late-C20 uPVC glazing. The west elevation of the right hand end cross wing also contains uPVC glazing. There are paired stone chimneystacks with moulded cornices to the end gables of the main range whist the left hand cross wing has a brick gable stack and the right hand cross wing has a truncated end stack of brick.

INTERIOR: The interior was not inspected but is understood to retain Queen Anne panelling and fireplace in Doric order on the ground floor, a contemporary staircase, and Jacobean panelling in one bedroom (Verney and Brooks, 1999)

HISTORY: Middle Mill Farmhouse stands within a substantial, irregular plot of 1.23 hectares, and appears to be of at least three distinct building phases. The earliest phase dates from the early C17 and comprises an L-shaped range with the main range aligned north to south with a cross wing at the left hand end. During the early C18 the farmhouse was aggrandised with a new frontage, alterations to the cross wing and remodelling of the interior. In the C19 a second cross wing was added to the right hand end to create a U-shaped plan.

SOURCES: Verney, D, Brooks, A, Buildings of England: Gloucestershire 1 The Cotswolds (1999), 698

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION: Middle Mill Farmhouse, an early-C17 farmhouse that was aggrandised c.1730 and extended in the C19, is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Architectural interest: as a good example of an early-C18 domestic architecture, retaining an early-C17 core.
* Interior: it retains good interior features, particularly the Queen Anne panelling and fireplace surround in the drawing room.
* Intactness: despite the loss of some windows and rainwater goods to uPVC replacements, the historic fabric and the plan form of the house is little altered.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26516500

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

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  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
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  Northumberland (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Warwickshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]
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  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)