Strapp Farmhouse, Granary Cottage, Barn Cottage and Old Hay Barn, Chiselborough, Somerset

Summary

Farmhouse, dating from late C16; substantially remodelled in mid-C17; further alterations in the late C18, C19 and C20. Attached former agricultural ranges of the C17 and C18, converted to three dwellings (Granary Cottage, Barn Cottage and Old Hay Barn) in late C20.

Description

Farmhouse, dating from late C16; substantially remodelled in mid-C17; further alterations in the late C18, C19 and C20. Attached former agricultural ranges of C17 and C18, converted to three dwellings (Granary Cottage, Barn Cottage and Old Hay Barn) in late C20.

MATERIALS: Strapp Farmhouse and Granary Cottage are constructed of cut and squared Hamstone and Hamstone and limestone rubble with ashlar dressings. The pitched roofs were originally thatched, and are covered mostly with double Roman clay tiles, but one bay and the rear outbuilding have Welsh slates. There are high stepped coped gables and brick chimney stacks. Barn Cottage and Old Hay Barn to left are built of rubble Hamstone which is brought to course, with a slate covering to the front pitch of the roof and plain tiles to the rear. The western end has stepped coped gable and a late-C20 brick stack.

PLAN: a linear arrangement of attached rectangular buildings, orientated north-east to south-west, and comprising, from east to west, the farmhouse, a former cider house (Granary Cottage) and a former mixing house and barn (Barn Cottage and Old Hay Barn). The farmhouse has a two-room, cross-passage plan with two rear wings of one bay and an attached single-storey outbuilding also to the rear. Granary Cottage is a two-storey building of three bays. Abutting its west gable end is a five-bay building of one phase of construction which was converted to Barn Cottage and Old Hay Barn in the late C20.

STRAPP FARMHOUSE and GRANARY COTTAGE

EXTERIOR: the building has two storeys, except for eastern rear wing which has one-and-a-half storeys under a catslide roof and the single-storey outbuilding attached to this. The front elevation contains, from right to left at ground-floor level, two flat-headed, hollow-chamfered mullioned stone windows of two lights with labels; a recessed entrance that has a triangular-headed door surround with ogee-step hollow mouldings, decorated spandrels inscribed with the initials GA to left and the date 1576 to right and a boarded door with strap hinges. To the left of the doorway is an C18 three-light window with wooden frame, iron casements, leaded panes and a wrought-iron quadrant curl stay. Further to the left is a two-light timber casement and an inserted entrance with a late-C20 timber door, both under concrete lintels, and to the left-hand bay is a three-light window in a Hamstone surround with hollow-chamfered mullions and labels. To the first floor are two C19/C20 casement windows that each has a single toplight and three C18 three-light windows with wooden frames, iron casements, leaded panes and wrought-iron quadrant curl stays. The right (east) return is built of stone rubble and contains an ovolo-moulded, single-light, stair window with a dripmould set high in the wall and a multi-paned casement window under a segmental brick lintel to both the ground and upper floors. Scars in the masonry at ground-floor level may mark the position of an earlier oven which has been removed. Most of the windows in the rear elevation are late-C20 timber casements under lintels of either timber or concrete. There is one C19 three-light casement, and in the two-storey wing, which has stepped coped gables and a rebuilt brick stack, is a stone-mullioned, ground-floor window which has been partially-infilled and contains an inserted C20 window, and a hollow-chamfered, mullioned window of two lights with labels to the first floor. To the right of the wing is a plank door with moulded fillets and nails in a square-headed surround. High in the west gable wall (of Granary Cottage) is a small oculus.

INTERIOR: STRAPP FARMHOUSE has a central passage. The room to the left has a fireplace, much reduced in size, with a Hamstone surround with bead moulding to the jambs and lintel. The recess on either side of the fireplace has fitted shelves and cupboards that have doors with raised and fielded panels. An opening in the north-west corner of the room which previously led through to the former cider cellar (Granary Cottage) has been infilled. There is a corresponding, infilled opening, used as a cupboard in the room above. The right-hand principal room has exposed ceiling beams with deep, flat chamfers and cyma stops. The large fireplace has been mostly infilled, but a historic building report (Dallimore, 1991) indicates that it had an oven and a curing chamber. A corridor has been created from the rear part of this room. It contains the staircase and provides access to the rear wings. The two-storey wing has a corner fireplace (infilled) at ground- and first-floor levels. The roof of STRAPP FARMHOUSE was not inspected (2019), but is understood to date principally from the late C18 although some earlier trusses are present in the eastern half of the building and in the two-storey wing. The interior of GRANARY COTTAGE has late-C20 partition walls and joinery. It has A-frame roof trusses that have collars and two rows of staggered butt purlins. The rafters are late C20 and the trusses have been strengthened with steel tie beams.

SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: OLD HAY BARN AND BARN COTTAGE

EXTERIOR: the windows and doors are late C20 and early C21 and within inserted openings, with concrete lintels to the ground-floor openings. The windows in the front elevation have timber frames and those to the rear are of uPVC. The front elevation of BARN COTTAGE has a three-light casement and a half-glazed timber door with a small adjoining window to the ground floor and two gabled dormers, each with a two-light casement window, to the first floor. OLD HAY BARN has a similar arrangement, though with two casement windows and a boarded door with adjoining window to the ground floor and three dormers above. The west gable end has an inserted window to both the ground and first floors. To the right of the first-floor window there is evidence of a taking-in door which has been infilled and set high in the gable is a small circular opening. The rear elevation has, to the left-hand half (BARN COTTAGE), two ground-floor windows and a uPVC door to the ground floor and two dormer windows. The right-hand half (OLD HAY BARN) has a late-C20 conservatory-style extension, an early-C21 addition and two dormers. There is some evidence of earlier blocked openings to this elevation.

INTERIOR: the internal partitions are late C20, as are the staircases, doors and skirting boards. To the ground floors are substantial C18 ceiling beams with shallow chamfers and slots cut into them for floor joists; those to BARN COTTAGE support late-C20 joists. Set within the east gable wall of BARN COTTAGE and visible internally at the top of the stairs is a splayed opening, possibly a ventilation slot, which has been infilled. The C18 roof structure also survives, consisting of A-frame principals carried on timber pads and single rows of staggered butt purlins, although some purlins have been replaced in the late C20. The original roof timbers are pegged and the trusses are dove-tailed at their apex. They have been reinforced with modern tie beams of steel (Barn Cottage) and timber (Old Hay Barn. The rafters are late-C20 replacements.

Pursuant to s1 (5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (‘the Act’) it is declared that the single-storey extension to Old Hay Barn, the lean-to addition to Granary Cottage and the garage built against the rear single-storey range of Strapp Farmhouse are not of special interest and are excluded from the listing.

History

Strapp Farmhouse was part of the Chinnock and Chiselborough estate of the Earls of Egremont and Ilchester from the C17 until 1857 when the Earl of Ilchester bought out the Earl of Egremont. The farmhouse has C16 origins, as evinced by the datestone of 1576 in the door surround of the front entrance. An estate survey records that the property was held at this time by Guy Arden (or Arthen), while C17 documents record various tenants, including the Greenham family who took over the tenancy in 1658 and held it until the end of the C18. The house was substantially rebuilt and partially refronted in the mid-C17 which has to some extent obscured the original plan. Further alterations were carried out in around 1792. The two attached former agricultural ranges (now Granary Cottage, Barn Cottage and Old Hay Barn) date from the C17 and C18, and are described in sales particulars from 1914 when the farm was sold at auction, as root and mixing house, apple loft and barn. By the mid-C20 the earlier range (Granary Cottage) which adjoins the farmhouse was used as a cider cellar and for storing grain. In the 1970s these two ranges were converted into three dwellings.

Other farm buildings are also described in the early-C20 sales particulars, but all except for a detached, late-C18 barn (Grade II) on the opposite side of East Street have since been demolished.

Reasons for Listing

Strapp Farmhouse, dating principally from the mid-C17, though with earlier origins, later alterations and additions, and two former agricultural ranges converted to dwellings known as Granary Cottage, Old Hay Barn and Barn Cottage are listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* the farmhouse is a good example of a vernacular, multi-phase house where it is possible to identify different phases of construction which gives considerable interest;
* the house has a good level of survival, both externally and internally.

Historic interest:

* despite the loss of some farm buildings and conversion to different uses, the farmstead survives as an example of a substantial principal house of good quality with attached former agricultural ranges;
* the converted agricultural ranges (Granary Cottage, Barn Cottage and Old Hay Barn) provide evidence for the development of the farm over time and form a physically-related ensemble with the farmhouse.

Group value:

* the farmhouse and its adjacent buildings also group well with the detached barn opposite which is listed at Grade II.

External Links

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