Description

BITTERLEY

SO57NE Upper Ledwyche Farmhouse and horse
482-1/6/65 engine-house to rear

II*

Farmhouse. C15/C16, with C17 staircase wing and mid C19
refronting and rear wings. Brick, coursed rubble, rendered
timber-frame. Plain-tile and slate roofs. Deep eaves and
dormer bargeboards to front. Large projecting stone eaves
stack to rear with 4 brick shafts, 3 with star-shaped shafts
and caps, one C20 rebuild. Stone ridge stack to rear wing with
brick shaft. L-shaped plan of main 2-bay core with end
extension of cross wing extended in turn with rear wing. Horse
engine-house in angle of the 2 wings.
EXTERIOR: south-east front is 2-storey and attic, 4-window
range of 6/6 sashes flanked with 8/8 sashes, with 3/3 sashes
flanked by 4/4 sashes set in brick semi-dormers. Panelled
front door to centre left with projecting gabled open porch.
All windows with cambered brick lintels and stone sills. Brick
attic-floor projecting storey band. Left-hand gable return:
stone gable-end with brick-blocked attic window. Remains of
timber-framed end truss in gable head indicating brick
refronting. Right-hand return: brick gable-end with C20
casement, and ground-floor boarded door. Projecting C19
service wing extension and beyond to right main rear extension
range.
Rear: rendered range with central tall staircase window.
2-light casement to right, 2-light casements at both floors.
To left is projecting stone stack masked by single-storey C19
hipped tiled kitchen extension. To far left is advanced cross
wing gable-end, masked by projecting rear wing of
single-storey and attic, with tiled gabled roof. Rear wing
return wall: rubble stone. To right 3-light casement and tiled
gabled dormer over, also with 3-light casement. To left plain
boarded doors.
INTERIOR: main 2-bay core is a C15/C16 former open hall with 2
intermediate open arch-braced hammerbeam trusses per bay.
Hammerbeam trusses have cambered collars with twin raking
struts over and arched-braces set into swept principals in
turn set on hammerbeams. Hammerbeams supported on
deep-chamfered swept hammer-braces projecting from
deep-chamfered wall posts with chamfer-stop at first-floor
level indicating framing for an upper hall. Hall mid-truss is
open: cambered tie beam and collar with vertical strut flanked
by twin raking struts under collar and twin raking strut over.
End truss is close-studded up to straight tie beam with 5
vertical struts to collar and 2 vertical struts over. Double
trenched purlin roof with some surviving swept chamfered wind
braces. Purlins tenoned into intermediate truss principals.
Smoke-blackened rafters survive on the north pitch, the south
pitch having been raised in C19. Main members have hollow
chamfers with run-out stops. Hammerbeam, wall plate, and
mid-truss tie beam have multi-profiled chamfer mouldings.
Inserted attic floor has C17 plastered cornice and ceiling
roundel. Square framing in first-floor cross partitions. Rear
cross wing gable-end truss has cambered tie beam with 8
vertical struts under and 4 over the collar. Vestigial timber
framing in rear wing.
C19 hipped slate-roofed horse engine-house with rubble walls
continuing to create rear courtyard with the arms of the
farmhouse.

Listing NGR: SO5538479209

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17551577

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)
• 
  The Shredded Chef: 120 Recipes for Building Muscle, Getting Lean, and Staying Healthy
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  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)
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  London 6: Westminster (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England): Westminster v. 6
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  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
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  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)