Description

OAKLEY LOWER OAKLEY
TM 17 NE
2/138 Poplar Farmhouse
29.7.55
II*
Farmhouse. Circa 1400 main range with late C16 cross-wing to left, forming T-
shape plan. Timber framed and plastered with a thatched roof. 2 storeys. A
3-cell open hall house of a rare single-ended Wealden form, with the solar end
jettied at first floor level to the front. The wallplate to the recessed
portion has embattled decoration below which is a hollow chamfer. C19
casement windows. C19 6-panelled raised and fielded door into the hall. 2
ridge stacks with rendered shafts. Original house in 4 bays: it seems likely
that the service end had no upper floor, and was built as a single open room
with a long hipped roof. Lower bay of open hall has remains of cross-entry
doorway; in the service partition is a beam with embattled ornament. Evidence
for diamond-mullioned hall windows. The open truss has a cambered tie beam
from which the arched braces have been removed. The roof is of raised-aisle
form, with jowled queen-posts arch-braced to arcade plates and collar; the
braces to the arcade plates are solid. The collar carries a central king-
post, which in turn has 2-way bracing to a ridge piece of deep-narrow section.
The combination of queen-posts and king post is very rare; there are other
examples at The Vicarage, Hoxne (Item 7/81) and Willow Farmhouse, Chippenhall
Green, Fressingfield. About one fifth of the original hall rafters remain,
together with the plastered lower gable end wall. All original components are
heavily sooted. Main stack built in upper end of hall in later C16. Also of
this date is the inserted floor, with closely-spaced plain joists, and a
partition screening the cross-passage. The cross-wing seems to have been
intended as a barn or granary: it now forms living accommodation and the frame
has been considerably altered.

Listing NGR: TM1613277949

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17539586

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

• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
• 
  Period property manual, victorian house manual 2 books collection set by ian rock
• 
  Period Property Manual (New Ed)
• 
  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)