Collins Green Farmhouse, Burtonwood and Westbrook, Warrington

Description

BURTONWOOD

136/0/10016 3 PENKFORD LANE
04-DEC-09 COLLINS GREEN
COLLINS GREEN FARMHOUSE

II
Farmhouse. Main one and a half-storey range with probable medieval origins, remodelled in C17, encased in brick in C18 & C19, further C20 alterations. Slate roof with irregular sized slates. Two and a half-storey late-C17 brick cross-gable range.

PLAN: Linear one and a half-storey range with two rooms to each floor with central stack; room to north end of ground floor also incorporates later rear outshut. Two and a half-storey cross-gable range to south end of building with two rooms to each floor (those to front are larger) and stair set to rear right.

EXTERIOR: Rendered mellow red brick (render missing in places). Low three-bay one and a half-storey range with front (east) elevation consisting of C19 gabled porch to far left of ground floor with mid-late C20 door. Wide six-light casement window to right of door with segmental arched head, four-light dormer window above between bays one and two (both with C20 glazing and frames). Window opening to far right of ground floor (boarded over internally, glazing and frame removed). Brick ridge stack with five chimneypots between bays two and three. Right (north) side elevation: Gable end with plank and batten loading door to first floor centre flanked by two small two-light rectangular window openings (window frame removed from that to left), external stair removed. C19 brick observable where render has been lost. Catslide-roofed outshut to right of ground floor with partially blocked up doorway. Rear (west) elevation: late-C20 patio doors and doorway to ground floor right, small window above set below the eaves. Rear of outshut to left with wide window opening (frame and glazing removed), small regular-sized roof slates. Tall two and a half-storey cross-gable range to south end of building projects forward to front (east) elevation with raised brick banding and some later brickwork. Window openings to each floor diminish in width up the range (boarded over internally, frames and glazing removed), illegible date stone to gable apex. Left (south) side elevation: inaccessible, but boarded over and blocked-up window openings can be seen internally to ground and first floor. Rear of range projects forward and is mostly obscured by heavy vegetation, original early-C18 brickwork believed to survive underneath, window openings to ground and first floor.

INTERIOR: Asphalt and tiled floors to ground floor, floorboard floors to upper floors. One and a half-storey range: Probable C17 inserted first floor. South ground floor room (probably originally the parlour of a medieval hall house) with heavy C17 chamfered cross beam with stops, large probable medieval seven-light timber diamond mullioned window to south wall with original timber frame survival above and below, panel infill below window removed and later supports inserted, adjacent doorway to west leads into cross-gable range and stair. Rebuilt stack (possibly replacing firehood) to north wall with substantial timber bressumer and C19 cast-iron stove. North ground floor room incorporates later rear outshut, altered stack to south wall with substantial bressumer, later brick partition wall inserted to east side to create a bathroom and small corridor. First floor: south room with surviving section of square timber framing to lower part of south wall (believed to be original external wall). Re-built brick stack to north end of room with shallow fireplace opening, butt-purlin tie beam truss hard up against stack, similar truss to south wall with carpenter's mark to south face of one of the timbers. Low opening to left of central stack connects into north room. Rafters to both rooms appear to be C19 and C20 in date. Two and a half-storey cross-gable range: front ground floor room contains south (external) face of timber diamond mullioned window to north wall. Rear ground floor room with boarded over windows to south and west walls (replicated to first floor room above). Narrow late-C17 dog-leg stair set to rear right of range with a deep carved handrail, carved closed string and square newel posts, thick turned balusters, barley-sugar baluster to top of stair by second floor landing, pendant to underside of stair between ground and first floor, some steps missing between ground floor and first half-landing. Front first floor room with blocked-up window to south wall, two ceiling beams with ovolo mouldings (probably re-used from elsewhere), plank and batten door to north wall leads into south first floor room of one and a half-storey range. Plank and batten door with three very wide planks and simple iron latch (probably late-C17) to second floor of cross-gable range. Roof with substantial ridge beam and side purlins, C19 and C20 rafters.

HISTORY: The hamlet of Collins Green may have medieval origins, suggested by the incorporation of 'green' into its place name. Originally it was agricultural in nature and characterised by isolated farmsteads, but in the C19 and C20 the wider district largely became an area of mining and industry.

Collins Green Farmhouse is believed to have its origins as part of a medieval thatch-roofed timber-framed house that was remodelled in the C17 and later encased in brick (and subsequently render) in the C18 and C19. Further alterations occurred in the C20. The two and a half-storey cross-gable range is believed to have probably been added in the late-C17.

The property was owned in the C19 by a wealthy local landowning family, the Bold Houghtons, with the Travers family as tenant farmers. The property was in active use as a farm until the c.1950s, after which time most of its associated land was sold off. A large later agricultural range to the rear of the property was demolished in the 1970s, along with a room (probably a later extension) to the centre rear of the farmhouse. It has been suggested that the building was used to house Italian POWs during WWII, although this has not been confirmed.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION: Collins Green Farmhouse is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

* It is an interesting survival of the probable parlour of a medieval timber-framed hall house (later encased in brick) that underwent remodelling in the C17, the addition of a late-C17 cross-wing, and further C19 and C20 alteration
* Each phase of the building's development is readable in the plan layout and the surviving fabric
* It is a rare example of its type within the local region
* It retains interior features from each phase of the building's development, including most notably a probable medieval seven-light timber diamond mullioned window and sections of timber framing, C17 floors, C17 chamfered and moulded beams, and a good late-C17 stair
* The interior features are of a high quality and design, and display the use of skilled local craftsmanship; reflecting the building's earlier higher status

Reasons for Listing

Collins Green Farmhouse is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

* It is an interesting survival of the probable parlour of a medieval timber-framed hall house (later encased in brick) that underwent remodelling in the C17, the addition of a late-C17 cross-wing, and further C19 & C20 alteration
* Each phase of the building's development is readable in the plan layout and the surviving fabric
* It is a rare example of its type within the local region
* It retains interior features from each phase of the building's development, including most notably a probable medieval seven-light timber diamond mullioned window and sections of timber framing, C17 floors, C17 chamfered and moulded beams, and a good late-C17 stair
* The interior features are of a high quality and design, and display the use of skilled local craftsmanship, reflecting the building's earlier higher status

External Links

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