Description

BROAD TOWN

560/0/10006 Little Town Farmhouse, Garden wall, Cu
12-JUL-05 ring House and Butressed wall.

II

Former farmhouse, late C18, incorporating parts of an earlier building (a date stone of 1704 is set in the recesses of one of the windows), with C19 and C20 repairs and alterations. Arranged on two floors, with attic above.
MATERIALS: red brick, laid in Flemish bond set on stone footings, with the earlier C17 parts mainly built in stone, with a stone tiled hipped roof. Plain C20 timber casement windows to all elevations.
PLAN: Essentially a single pile front range incorporating two rooms arranged on each side of an entrance hall with main stair. There is an earlier single bay of a through-passage house to the rear north-east, incorporating a gable end stack to the north. Axial stack terminating the earlier bay of the house to the south. There is a large out-shot extension to the rear of this range and a rear service wing adjoins the early block to north-west. A brick barrel-vaulted cellar runs out beneath the north-west service range to the west.
EXTERIOR: three bays and two storeys. Right-hand bay incorporating four light casement windows with exposed timber lintels to ground and first floor; left-hand bay incorporating three light casements with exposed lintels to ground and first floor; central bay has a three light casement window with exposed lintel at first floor above a pretty stone tiled, hipped roof porch with decorative wrought iron trellis-work supports. All windows are C20 traditional flush-fitting casements of eight panes and ovolo moulded glazing bars. East elevation less formal and with a mix of two, three and four light casements of C20 date all (with the exception of the attic) with exposed wooden lintels. West elevation is similar, incorporating two and three light casements with glazing bars and a pair of newly installed French doors to the ground floor service wing. The rear north elevation comprises the two gables of the north-east and north-west ranges, the east range with a gable-end stack, the west range with a quarter hipped roof. Informal arrangement of one, two and three light C20 casements with glazing bars.
INTERIOR: A plain but good interior with a range of architectural features of note that include: Right-hand ground floor room of the front range has a chamfered cross-beam with hollow stops, recessed and moulded panelling below the window with matching shutters, a pretty corner cupboard with similar recessed panelled doors and a moulded cornice and a curious C20 fire surround incorporating twin spirally-treated columns. Left-hand ground floor front room has a date stone (possibly reset) in the left hand window reveal with reset Delft tiles set below window. Entrance hall has a plain later C19 closed-string stair, incorporating turned newel posts with a swept hand rail and stick balusters. The out shot to the rear incorporates a bread oven of brick and stone with a wrought iron door in situ. Left-hand first floor room of the front block has a good mid C18 fire surround incorporating a later cast-iron grate. The first floor room of the rear north east range has a good plain late C17 or early C18 stone chamfered chimney-piece with a slightly cranked head and decorative stops. At second floor of the front block there is a plain closed-string attic stair of C18 date, set against some good oak geometric panelling of late C17 or early C18 date, probably reused from the older house.
Subsidiary features of note include: Garden wall to the south front of the main block of Flemish bond brick with bull nose brick soldier course and C20 wrought iron gate of the same pattern as the porch supports. Approx 8 metres to the west of the house, linked by the garden wall, a modest C19 smoking or curing house of brick, laid in a Flemish bond. Approx 8 meters to the south of the house a tall buttressed wall, constructed of brick laid in an English bond with a flat stone coping, formally demarking the farmyard.
Roof: elements of the roof structure are visible, including hip ridge-boards, rafters and purlins, all hand worked and of C18 date.

Summary of importance: Littletown Farmhouse is a well preserved example of middle status multi-phased late C17/early C18 farmhouse. Significantly, it retains a range of architectural details that clearly define the evolutionary development of the building. Later alterations and repairs have been sensitively carried out that both preserve and contribute to its special interest. The house has a distinctive historical association with its landscape context, specifically the cut figure of the horse on the hill behind, which adds to its special interest.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26670720

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

• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
• 
  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990: Updated version
• 
  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability
• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)
• 
  Cambridgeshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)