Description

FARNHAM

884/0/10022 LOWNDES BUILDINGS
26-JUN-07 1-9

GV II
Terrace of nine cottages, probably built in 1839 or 1840 of brick and clunch with a slate roof.

PLAN: This is a continuous row of nine cottages, each one room wide and two rooms deep, with a pitched roof, one chimney stack shared between each pair of cottages placed on the ridge. To the back of the terrace is a discontinuous row of three outhouses.

EXTERIOR: The front elevation is of brick laid in Flemish Bond. After no. 1, each pair of cottages has front doors side by side, separating their two windows which are placed one above the other. In all but three cases, all the windows are original; horizontal sliding sashes in the first floor, 16-paned sashes in the ground floor, although the ground floor windows of nos 1-3 are slightly smaller. No. 2 has replacement windows, a sash in the ground floor and casement in the first floor, while 3 and 8 have replaced their lower and upper windows respectively. There are gauged brick cambered arches with flat heads over windows and doors. The front door of no. 1 is paired with an archway leading to the back of the terrace. The rear wall is built of roughly squared coursed local clunch stone, with brick surrounds to windows and doors. In nos. 1-3 the first floor is of brick from sill level upwards, and the windows and doors have gauged brick cambered arches, while the remainder of the cottages have flat gauged brick lintels: a vertical line of bricks marks the division between nos. 3 and 4. Some cottages have replacements for their original horizontal sliding sash windows, and some have additional windows in the first floor where a bathroom has been inserted. Opposite the back doors is a discontinuous row of three single storey outhouses built of brick laid in stretcher bond, with tiled roofs and chimneys. These seem to be later replacements for the original continuous row and are not of special interest.

INTERIOR: The interiors of nos. 3 and 5 were seen. The front door opens directly into the front room, which in no. 5 contains a wide chimney breast and brick fireplace, and in no.3, a modern hearth with wooden mantelpiece. The back room is the kitchen, and contains in both cases an open staircase without balusters set against the east wall, and with open space underneath. This rises to the two upper rooms: in both cases the back bedroom has been subdivided to form a bathroom. The front bedroom of no. 5 contains a fireplace which appears original. It has a simple wooden surround flush with the wall of the chimney breast. The doors of no. 5 are plank and batten doors, while those in no. 3 have been replaced with modern doors. As far as it is possible to tell, the plan form of the remaining cottages remains intact, except for no. 7, where the owner has said that they have undertaken some work to the interior, removing one internal partition. A survey of no. 6 undertaken by the Surrey Domestic Buildings Research Group in 1990 revealed light timber framing in the internal walls. It also revealed a clasped purlin roof with queen posts, and a roof space open between nos. 4 and 9.

SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: Iron railings surround and subdivide the front gardens, with a gate giving access to each garden.

HISTORY: 1-9 Lowndes Buildings is named after Thomas Lowndes; the land is included in his will of 1833. The terrace does not appear on the Farnham Tythe map, which dates to 1839, however there are census returns for the terrace from 1841 onwards. Its construction seems to have been part of a process of infilling the open land behind Castle Street with more humble housing, and the terrace appears on the 1st edition OS map of 1871 with other similar terraces, for instance Long Garden Walk, and a Working Men's Institute was just a short distance to the north of Lowndes Terrace. Historic maps also show a continuous line of outhouses at the back of the terrace, which have been replaced with a discontinuous row of three separate outhouses.

SOURCES: J Culshaw (1990), Farnham, No. 6 Lowndes Buildings. Report for the Domestic Buildings Research Group, Surrey. NMR B/13191-07-08.

SUMMARY OF IMPORTANCE: Lowndes Buildings is a terrace of nine single bay cottages of artisanal housing, built in 1839 or 1840, named after Thomas Lowndes; the land is mentioned in his will of 1833. Lowndes Buildings is an individually built terrace associated with a particular person, and shares more in common with earlier examples of workers' housing than with later mass produced terraces. Such very simple early housing for the working classes rarely survives without any external additions or major internal alterations, and with both exterior and interiors reasonably intact. The retention of plan form is of social historical interest, and the terrace is also of local historical interest for its relationship with and proximity to the more middle class housing on Castle Street, with which it has group value.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26671383

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.

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