Description

CHRISTOW
SX 88 SW
5/64 Aller Farmhouse
26.10.83
GV II*
Farmhouse. C14 (pottery fragment found during rebuilding dated by John Allan,
remodelled and partly rebuilt in the late C16/early C17. 1984 renovations.
Whitewashed rendered stone rubble with some cob, left end wall rebuilt in concrete
block ; thatched roof, gabled at left end, hipped at right end ; rebuilt left end
stack, axial stack with granite shaft and crencellated cap, right end stack.
Plan: 3 room and through passage plan, lower end to the right (east), hall stack
backing on to passage. The origins of the building are a high quality C14 open hall
house (dated pottery fragments found under quoin at upper end), with an arched brace
roof truss with an unusual apex over the hall and the remains of a second arched
brace truss truncated when the hall stack was added. Evidence of both lower and
higher end jetties indicate that the ends of the house were floored before the hall
and the insertion of the hall stack. A recess adjacent to the hall stack may be the
position of the first hall stair, subsequently replaced by a stair against the rear
wall ; a probably C19 straight stair rises against the rear wall of the inner room
with access from the hall. The lower end was re-roofed and probably rebuilt in the
C17 and appears to have been unheated until the C19,the inner room may also have
been unheated until the C19 when it was re-roofed. A detached block with a stack,
semi-ruinous and demolished in the last 6 years (information from owner) may have
been the C17 kitchen. C20 renovations have involved the introduction of carpentry
from elsewhere : the lower end partition of the passage no longer exists.
Exterior: 2 storeys. Asymmetrical 3 window front with a C20 plank and cover strip
front door to the former passage to right of centre with a probably re-sited
chamfered stopped lintel ; plaster date plaque over the door, WMN 1707. 2- and 3-
light timber casement windows with glazed bars, some with re-used timber lintels.
The rear elevation is slightly broken forward in the centre and blind, apart from the
cross passage rear door. The right return has a first floor 2-light ovolo-moulded
timber mullioned window, re-sited from the rear wall.
Interior: The granite ashlar back of the hall stack is exposed in the (former) passage
with a plinth and cornice, the remainder of the partition made up of a plank and
muntin screen. Under the stair adjoining the cross passage is a granite trough with
several holes drilled in the base, possibly related to a chancel crossing the floor
of the lower end and leaving the building through one corner (Laithwaite). The
ceiling beams of the lower end room, a chamfered step-stopped cross beam with
chamfered stopped joists are all introduced from elsewhere, replacing a chamfered
stopped joists and an RSJ. The hall has a good open fireplace with massive chamfered
granite lintel and jambs and the remains of a bread oven in a recess adjacent to the
stack. The hall crossbeam is chamfered and stopped, the joists (concealed by ceiling
plaster) with bead moulding. C20 replacement joists with moulded ends replace a
mutilated jetty projecting into the hall adjacent to the stack, the room over the
inner room was formerly jettied into the hall but the evidence is concealed by
ceiling plaster. Plank and muntin screen at higher end with chamfered muntins with
diagonal stops, the screen, possibly part of the medieval arrangement has substantial
traces of paint with designs of grapes and foliage ; C18 panelled door to hall stair
with HL hinges. The inner room has a chamfered cross beam beam and exposed joists of
large scantling.
Roof: Remains of an important medieval roof over the hall, below a lager roof
structure : one smoke blackened arched brace main truss with yoke to carry a square-
set ridge, the truss infilled with plaster, sooted on the hall side ; sooted rafters
survive and the remains of a second truss, truncated by the stack. Sooted purlins
and rafters extend over the passage as far as a later, C17, collar rafter truss with
a lap dovetailed collar and daigonally-set ridge. I brace from the medieval roof
survives to the rear of the ridge, visible in the first floor room over the lower
end.
An important medieval house with rare evidence for dating.
Possibly the home of William de Alre, documented in 1333.
Laitwaite, M. Unpublished notes on Aller.

Listing NGR: SX8347884086

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17536038

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

• 
  Surrey (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Farrow & Ball How to Decorate: Transform your home with paint & paper
• 
  London 4: North: North v. 4 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Period Property Manual (New Ed)
• 
  Harrow on the Hill: A photographic portrayal of listed buildings and structures (Historic Buildings Picture Guides)
• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)