Description

STEEPLE ASHTON HIGH STREET
ST 9056
(east side)
13/241 The Old Firs (formerly listed
as No 27)
11.9.68
GV II

Detached house. Late C15, late C17 with C19 and C20 addition.
Square-panelled timber-framing on dressed limestone plinth with
short buttresses, stone slate roof with axial stone stack, brick
C19 and C20 additions. Entrance in C20 altered wing at right
angles to 4-bay cross wing. C20 door and C20 casements to 2-storey
flat-roofed west-facing front; possibly on site of former hall
range. Cross wing to right has large 2-light casement, fixed
window to ground floor and single-light and 2-light casement to
first floor. Gable end facing street has 2-light ground floor
casement and early C20 leaded oriel to jettied first floor,
restored barge boards with same decoration as on No 54 High Street
(q.v.). Right return of cross wing has 2-light casement to ground
and first floor, right half rebuilt in dressed limestone and with
datestone inscribed KD/1699; French windows to ground and single
and 2-light casements to first floor. Rear gable end of wing has
casements, rear of C20 altered range has casements. Single-storey
rubble stone service wing to rear right probably C17 and altered
early C20 with planked door, casements and gabled dormer; probably
originally timber-framed.
Interior: Cross wing has front parlour with moulded cross beams
with foliage-carved central boss, open fireplace with chamfered
stone lintel on plain stone jambs. Winding stairs against axial
stack with wainscot door below, wainscot doors to ground floor,
rear parlour has chamfered beam with ogee stops, rebuilt C17.
Solar over front has fine deep-arch braced cambered collar truss,
moulded soffits, chamfered purlins with two tiers of curved
windbraces; the upper concealed by ceiling, stone Tudor-arched
chamfered fireplace, probably an insertion. Rear chamber has
ceiling and loft over with 2-bay collar truss roof, some reused
timbers with smoke-blackening. The solar wing is all that remains
of a hall house on this site, the 1699 rebuilt east end and the
rebuilt hall suggest that the house may have been partly fire
damaged. A serious fire is known to have taken place in Steeple
Ashton in 1500.
(Country Life, 23 October, 1942)

Listing NGR: ST9072756779

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26544451

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

• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Surrey (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
• 
  Setting up a Listed Building Heritage Partnership Agreement: Historic England Advice Note 5
• 
  Department for Communities Listed Historic Buildings of Northern Ireland: Information Guide for the 2nd Survey of Historic Buildings