Description

HADLOW THREE ELM LANE, GOLDEN GREEN TQ 64 NW 6/97 Easterfield Farmhouse - II

Farmhouse. Circa 1700, minor C19 and C20 modernisations. Ground floor level is Flemish bond brick with decorative use of burnt headers on sandstone footings, first floor level is timber-framing clad with peg tile; brick stacks and chimneyshafts; peg-tile roof.

Plan: Single phase T-plan house. The main block faces south west. It has a 2-room plan, one room either side of the central entrance hall which contains the staircase. These rooms are heated by gable-end stacks. These are the principal rooms, the dining room and parlour but it is not clear which was used as which originally. A 2-room plan block projects at right angles to rear of the centre of the main block and contains first a small unheated service room then a kitchen with a gable-end stack. It is lower than the main block. There are integral lean-to outshots to rear of the main block each side of the rear block service room which seems to have served principally as a connecting lobby between the front and back rooms. Although the house was once divided into 2 cottages the original layout is well-preserved. It appears to be a single phase house and is a neatly planned house for circa 1700. The rear block kitchen fireplace was rebuilt in the C19 and, it seems, before that there was a smoke bay rather than a stack.

House is 2 storeys with attics in the main block.

Exterior: Symmetrical front fenestration with 4 ground floor windows, 3 at first floor level and 2 attic dormer windows with hipped roofs. The windows are mostly C19 and C20 casements with glazing bars although a couple of the window frames (e.g. ground floor right end) may be original with flat-faced mullions. The central doorway has an original solid frame (bead-moulded with overlight), door and flat hood on shaped brackets. When the house was divided into cottages there was another front door to right but this has been removed and replaced by a window. Moulded timber eaves cornice and the roof is gable- ended, Similar windows to rear and the kitchen is gable-ended.

Interior: Very well-preserved. The original dogleg stair has square newel posts with bead-moulded corners, a moulded flat handrail, closed string and the balustrade is filled with vertical panelling. Most of the ceiling beams are plain chamfered but those at first floor level in the main block have runout stops. Where framing is exposed it shows various carpenter's assembly marks. The front room fireplaces are brick with plain oak lintels, that in the right room larger than the one to left. There is a great deal of original joinery detail around the house. The front room doors off the ground and first floor landings are 2-panel doors and there are contemporary cupboard doors.

In the kitchen the first floor does not extend to the chimneybreast. Instead there is a narrow bay open to the roof with a framed wall on top of a crossbeam at first floor level. This indicates that the kitchen originally had a smoke bay which was later replaced by the present kitchen stack which includes a bread oven, the housing of which projects to rear. The kitchen block roof is carried on tie-beam trusses supported on jowled posts. It has clasped side purlins. The main block attics are plastered and little can be seen of the roof although it looks to be of similar construction.

Easterfield Farmhouse is a remarkably well-preserved small farmhouse of circa 1700. The plan and structure are intact along with a great deal of original joinery detial.

Listing NGR: TQ6334048453

External Links

• Wikidata Q26644981

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Recommended Books

• 
  Cornwall (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 4: North: North v. 4 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)
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  Harrow on the Hill: A photographic portrayal of listed buildings and structures (Historic Buildings Picture Guides)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)