Surviving Wing at Manor Farm, Monkland and Stretford, County of Herefordshire

Description

MONKLAND AND STRETFORD

1563/0/10007 Surviving wing at Manor Farm
09-JUN-08

GV II
The building was erected in the later C16 as a parlour wing to an existing manor house, mainly of C15 date and part of a site which dated back to the period following the Norman Conquest. The building is timber-framed with a stone plinth and is abutted to east and west by farm buildings with corrugated metal roofing. The lower body is of late-C18 or early-C19 random-bond brick to both north and south sides and the upper body is covered with timber cladding. It has a plain tiled roof. The plan is of two rooms to each floor with an attic and basement. The building is jettied to both the north and west fronts.
EXTERIOR: The timber framing is masked on the exterior by later brick walling to the ground floor which has been built under the jetties on the north and west sides, and timber cladding. Inside the farm building which abuts on the west side can be seen part of the bressumer of the first floor jetty which has a series of quadrant and stepped mouldings. Above this are the vertical timbers of the small-framed first floor walling.
INTERIOR: The ground floor was previously divided into two rooms, however the dividing wall has now been demolished. At the time of the RCHM survey in 1933, the earlier part of the manor house was still extant. This part of the building was referred to as the western room and had been subdivided by 1934 and the walls were covered with panelling including a frieze, one part of which appears to survive to the first floor.
The cellar is infilled. The ground floor now forms one large space but appears from mortice holes in a cross-axial beam to have been originally divided into two; one large, nearly square room to the south and a smaller room to the north. The walling is close-studded with a prominent middle-rail. Bays of this close studded walling survive to two-thirds of the extent of the western wall at its northern end and to two bays of the eastern wall. The south end of this east wall was previously the position of a large fireplace prior to the 1950s as described in the RCHM survey of 1933, when it had a carved overmantle. The original corner posts at the eastern end are both in situ and are chamfered to their inner angle. There are prominent projecting posts at the midway point to both side walls, which are also chamfered and these help to support a ceiling of beams which run both axially and cross-axially and in turn support joists, the majority of which run cross-axially, save at the northern end, where two bays have joists running axially. There is no dragon beam to the north-western corner, despite the double overhang, which would indicate a date in the later-C16. Painted decoration survives to these beams and takes the form of leaf and flower ornament in stylised friezes. This is principally of black against a whitened background, but there appear to be other pigments including red and possibly bistre. There are two different patterns in the ground floor rooms forming friezes and the beams and timbers in the north room appear to have been whitened, whereas those in the south room have not. The painted decoration in the south room extends down the wall timbers. At first floor level the space was formerly divided along a centre line marked by the truss, creating two rooms of roughly equal size. The timber framing to the west side is almost complete, and has panels of small framing with a generous middle rail and two window spaces. The uprights of the small framing coincide with every alternative upright of the close studding of the floor below. There are jowled corner posts to all four corners. The north face is also intact, save for one upright. The eastern wall has lost much of its timber framing and the south wall, which is clad on both sides, also appears to have been rebuilt largely using modern timbers. The deeply chamfered ceiling beams have been covered with plaster and a plaster ceiling has also been inserted (now partially collapsed). There is a small portion of C17 timber frieze which appears to have been left over from the panelling referred to in the RCHM report. The attic has two ranks of trenched purlins with a diagonally-set ridge beam. The common rafters appear to be very largely original. The roof was not wind braced originally but has had some bracing added, perhaps in the C18. Both gable ends are small framed and appear to have had central windows. The window sill on the north side is heavily weathered but the soffit to the window head is hidden by later timber and the mullion mortices are not apparent. Wide floorboards, which may be original, exist here but have been renewed on the lower two floors.

HISTORY: The manor of Monkland was part of the Stretford Hundred and is listed in Doomsday as a possession of Norman lords. It became the site of a small Benedictine cell of the abbey at Conches, but this was suppressed, along with other alien priories in about 1414. It came into the possession of Sir Roland Lenthall until 1475 when it was granted to the dean and cannons of Windsor. They held it until 1831 when it was sold into private hands. The full extent of the manor house buildings was recorded for the Royal Commission for Historical Monuments in 1933 and a plan was drawn at that time showing both the wing and the manor house. The building was then described as being `unoccupied and in a derelict condition'. A fire in the 1950s destroyed much of the earlier part of the manor house, leaving only the parlour wing which is the subject of the present application and some altered buildings at the east end of the site, which were noted as being stables at the time of the RCHM report. A lower, agricultural building was added to the west side, most probably in the early C20. The building is currently used for agricultural storage.

SOURCES: An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Herefordshire, Vol. 3, North West, HMSO, 1934, p.110; [Also the transcript of the RCHM notes held at the National Monuments Office, Swindon and used for the preparation of the above volume].

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION: The surviving parlour wing at Manor Farm, Monkland, Herefordshire is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Despite some losses, the building has a substantial C16 timber frame of considerable quality which is jettied to two sides.
* The contemporary painted decoration to the interior is a rarity and of distinct interest.
* The building marks the existence of a manor house at Monkland from the time of Doomsday and has distinct group value with the Church of All Saints.

Reasons for Listing

The surviving wing of The Manor House at Manor Farm, Monkland is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Despite some losses, the building has a substantial C16 timber frame of considerable quality which is jettied to two sides.
* The contemporary painted decoration to the interior is a rarity and of distinct interest.
* The building marks the existence of a manor house at Monkland from the time of Doomsday and has distinct group value with the Church of All Saints.

External Links

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