Description

TQ 64 SW PEMBURY MAIDSTONE ROAD

5/385 Downingbury Farmhouse
14.4.86
II*

Farmhouse. 1703 according to the owner, it is certainly early C18, minor
later modernisations. Ground floor level is Flemish bond red brick including
some burnt headers; timber-framing above is clad with peg-tile. Brick stacks
and chimneyshafts. Peg-tile roof.

Plan: Double depth plan house facing east south east, say east. Front and
back rooms either side of central entrance hall containing the staircase.
Rooms heated by end stacks. Principal rooms at the front and service rooms to
rear.

House is 2 storeys with attics in the roofspace and cellar under the right
(north) end.

Exterior: Largely original front. Symmetrical 3-window front of original
sash windows, 12-pane sashes each side and first floor centre 8-pane sash.
Central front doorway up a short flight of stone steps. Original bead-moulded
solid doorframe contains a 6-fielded panel door and overlight has original
glazing bars and above a shallow flat hood with moulded edges. Moulded timber
eaves cornice. M-roof parallel to the front and gable-ended. Front has 3
dormer windows with hipped roofs. Rear elevation is not symmetrical. Here
most of the windows are C20 replacement sash windows but the kitchen (rear
north) has a 4-light window with original oak frame and flat-faced mullions.
Rear doorway also has original frame but now contains a C20 plank door.

Interior: Contains a great deal of original carpentry and joinery detail.
Fine original stair; open string with moulded newel posts, moulded flat
handrail and slender turned balusters with blocks. Most rooms have original
fielded panel doors and some cupboards have similar doors. Roof was not
inspected but is believed to be the original structure.

Downingbury Farmhouse is a very attractive early C18 house and has survived
remarkably complete. It also forms a group with its former farmbuildings now
in separate occupation; Downingbury Farm Oast (q.v.) and Downingbury Farm Barn
(q.v.).

Listing NGR: TQ6297742250

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17547586

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

• 
  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Northumberland (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  ENGLAND GUIDE TO POST WAR LISTED: A Guide to Post-war Listed Buildings
• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects by Harwood, Richard (2012) Paperback
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of Historic Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas