Description

CHALFORD

1374/0/10021 HYDE
21-APR-06 ST MARY'S FARM

GV II
A farmhouse, dating c.1820-1833, with an unusual canted main elevation with Gothic detailing.

MATERIALS: The building is of squared, coursed limestone except for the main elevation which is of limestone ashlar. The roof is hipped, with a slate covering, and a central brick stack.

PLAN: The building is a single bay, canted to the main elevation, of double depth plan.

EXTERIOR: The windows to the main (north western) elevation are carved limestone Tudor Gothic arches to the ground floor, and those to the first floor are pointed arched with Decorated tracery. The central part of the tripartite Tudor Gothic window to the front of the canted bay has been converted from a doorway. There are paired lancet windows to the rear (south east) and to one side (north east) with dressed limestone surrounds. The only entrance door is now in the north eastern elevation, in an original opening with massive stone lintel. The south western side has square headed openings with dressed limestone surrounds and stone cills. There is an open-sided single storey lean-to to the rear (south east), of modern breezeblock construction with corrugated metal roof.

INTERIOR : the ground floor consists of an entrance hall and two rooms, each with C19 stone built fireplace. The floor to the main living room consists of floor boards over limestone flags; that to the kitchen to the rear is of limestone flags. Stairs to the first floor lead off the entrance hall. The room to the front has been subdivided to provide a bathroom and bedroom, with a second bedroom to the rear.

HISTORY : St Mary's Farm was part of the estate of St Mary's House (listed grade II*) which it faces across the Golden Valley. Dating from c.1710 and earlier, by the later C18 St Mary's House was associated with St Mary's Mill (listed grade II), to which it stands adjacent. Wealth from the textile industry enabled the owner, Samuel Clutterbuck, to add new wings and remodel the interior of St Mary's House, in the 1820s. At the same time, a modest attempt at a designed landscape seems to have been laid out in the valley rising up from the house and mill up the slope towards St Mary's Farm. The farmhouse is set on a very unusual alignment with its decorative front facing obliquely away from the road directly towards the principal rooms of St Mary's House, and it seems most likely that its construction or remodelling dates from this period. The farm was specifically mentioned in Samuel Clutterbuck's will, and in sale particulars dating c.1833, so it seems probable that the current form of the farmhouse dates from the period 1820-1833.

SUMMARY OF IMPORTANCE : This early C19 farmhouse, which has an unusually fine main elevation with Gothic details, whilst demonstrating clear architectural merit in its own right, is also important for its association with the grade II* listed St Mary's House and grade II St Mary's Mill. As well as being a working farmhouse, it was built or remodelled in the period 1820-1833 and aligned to act as an eyecatcher for St Mary's House, with an avenue of trees leading the eye up the Golden Valley towards it.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26670924

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

• 
  Hampshire: Winchester and the North (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Nottinghamshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]
• 
  Setting up a Listed Building Heritage Partnership Agreement: Historic England Advice Note 5