Summary

Mid-C17 farmhouse, with an attached western C18 former malthouse or granary and eastern residential wing dated 1896 in the gable.

Description

Mid-C17 farmhouse, with an attached western C18 former malthouse or granary and eastern residential wing dated 1896 in the gable.

MATERIALS: the central part is timber-framed, re-fronted on the south side in C18 red brick, rendered on the north side; the former malthouse is of coursed chalkstone blocks with red brick dressings over an ironstone base; the east wing is in red brick in Flemish bond to the south side, the remainder is cement rendered. The roof is tiled, except for the east wing which is pantiled, with two brick chimneystacks.

PLAN: the central part was originally probably an end chimneystack house of two storeys and two bays, to which was added a western, two-storey, three-bay L-wing. This was originally a malthouse or granary, but later also contained a mid-C19 staircase and parlour, later a kitchen, with a bedroom above. To the east is an 1896 higher, two-storey, single-bay residential wing with a northern staircase and landing extension.

EXTERIOR: the central part of the south or entrance front is of two storeys, in red brick in Flemish bond with four full-height pilasters. There are two square windows to each floor with later C20 casements. The projecting central door surround has a cambered arch with ovolo-moulded cornice. The wide six-panelled door has an early C19 circular cast iron door knocker with rosettes and Greek Key design and wide L-hinges internally. The higher eastern wing, also in Flemish bond brickwork, is taller than the central section with a gable, a stringcourse between floors and one sash window with vertical glazing bars and horns on each floor with stone lintels, the upper floor with a drip-mould.

The remaining western bay of the south elevation comprises the former malthouse L-wing, in coursed chalkstone blocks with an ironstone base, red brick end quoins and a roof that is hipped to the south. The eastern return of the malthouse has a circular iron tie, two square windows and a doorcase with a half-glazed door. The south end has a large late C19 square bay inserted on the ground floor and an early C20 hipped dormer interrupting the eaves. The west side, comprising the malthouse range, has square window openings with C20 windows, including a wide ground floor opening and a circular iron tie. The taller residential north end is separately roofed and has one wide stone opening on the ground floor.

The north side was rendered in the late C19. There are three sash windows with vertical glazing bars and horns, a half-glazed door, and steps leading down to a cellar. The ground floor of the eastern bay has a deep casement window with marginal glazing.

The east side has a projecting full-height chimneystack but no windows.

INTERIOR: the south entrance leads directly into the reception hall, originally the hearth room of the C17 house. The large open fireplace has been blocked by a smaller early to mid-C19 fireplace but the original brick-lined, beehive-shaped bread oven survives and is visible, although the original opening was later blocked and turned 180 degrees into the adjoining room. The ceiling has un-chamfered beams, some with carpenters' marks, and mortises on the south side show the removal of the ground floor timber-framed front wall when the brick re-fronting took place. The replaced smaller joists in the south-east corner of the room indicate the location of the original staircase. The adjoining room to the south-east, formerly a parlour, later a study, has a spine beam with a one and a half inch chamfer and step stops, and smaller similar stops to the floor joists. There is a diagonally placed mid-C19 marble fireplace and wooden dado panelling. The western room adjoining the hall is in the northern end of the malthouse range and has a door with coloured marginal glazing, a spine beam without chamfers supported on a projecting wooden knee, and an early to mid-C19 fireplace. The adjoining staircase to the south in the central bay of the malthouse is early or mid-C19 with stick balusters, and a column newel post. There is full-height panelling, similar to that in the study. The adjoining room to the south, now a dining room, has a late C19 fireplace with brackets, pilasters and strapwork decoration, and a round-headed display cupboard. The shower room in the late C19 north extension, built on to the reception hall, which may have replaced an earlier outshot, contains the cambered opening into the bread oven. To the east is a late C19 staircase with slender turned balusters and newel posts with ball finials. The sitting room on the ground floor of the 1896 eastern wing has an Arts and Crafts-style wooden fireplace with a Gibbs surround, elliptical arches, plate-shelf and end pilasters. There is a deep moulded cornice of rosettes.

Upstairs, the eastern bedroom in the 1896 wing is situated at a higher level than the other first floor rooms. It has an identical cornice to the sitting room below and a mid-C19 marble fireplace with pilasters and anthemion decoration. The adjoining bedroom to the west retains a projecting wooden knee, originally supporting a timber beam, a diagonally placed chimney breast, and a three-panelled door. The adjoining bedroom has mid-C19 two-panelled cupboards on either side of the large chimneybreast. The western bedroom has a similar two-panelled cupboard at the northern end of the large chimneybreast. The bedroom at the south end of the west wing has a reused tie beam assembled in the C18 with horizontal mortises on the south side and angled queen struts.

History

The central part of the property is a mid-C17 end chimney house, one of the Bourne's (as this area is known) oldest buildings. The area was originally part of the medieval Manor of Farnham, owned by the Bishops of Winchester, and was mainly heathland and poor quality agricultural land used for arable and growing conifers. From the mid-C18 onwards there were isolated encroachments by squatters. Buildings in the position of Heroncourt are shown on the Rocque map of 1768 and the Lindley and Crosley map of 1793. Hops had been introduced into the Farnham area in the 1590s, increased gradually through the C17 and reached a peak in the early to mid C19. Extensive hop fields were situated to the north of the property. The west wing of Heroncourt is probably a former malthouse or granary and on the 1839 Tithe Map the Bourne Farm land on which the dwelling now known as Heroncourt stands, is shown farmed as a mixture of arable crops and hops. The owner, William Pink Paine, was one of the major hop growers in Farnham in the early C19, but the occupier was James Fry. On the 1839 Tithe map, Plot 2748, which includes the farmhouse, had already acquired the L-shaped west wing and there is also a separate outbuilding shown to the north-west.

By the time of the 1869 Ordnance Survey Map the property is shown with an attached long eastern range which had been demolished by the Second Edition of 1895. In 1874 Paine's widow sold the relevant Bourne Farm land to George Trimmer, Farnham's leading brewer, who sold part of the land for the building of a Victorian house called 'The Highlands' to the north of the farmhouse. Following the 1870s railway connection more prosperous residents came to the Bourne, known as 'villa folk' and between 1891 and 1896 the property passed to Isaac Stanley, a baker and restaurant owner from Battersea who sold it to his wife's brother, Edwin Lathey. The current east wing has the date 1896 carved on its gable. A detached garage to the east of the house was built between 1895 and 1911. A photograph in the Francis Frith collection taken in 1909 shows the property to its current extent with a conservatory or verandah across the whole of the central section on the south or entrance front. The 1913 Kelly's Directory for Farnham first refers to the property as 'Heroncourt', occupied by Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Hume Balfour (1886-1943) of the Indian Army. A 1914 sales catalogue describes the house as an 'Old-fashioned Modernised Freehold Residence'. It was advertised as having three reception rooms, five bedrooms with a loft, a coach or motor house, coal house and tennis court. By the 1934 Ordnance Survey map a small separate laundry building is shown adjoining to the north. In 1978, when the property was owned by a Mr and Mrs Watts, the property was inspected by members of the Domestic Buildings Research Group, Surrey and a report was written in 1979 by Joan Harding (DBRG reference 2112).

Reasons for Listing

Heroncourt, a timber-framed farmhouse of mid C17 date, re-fronted in the C18, with an attached part C18 malt-house and part domestic west wing, and an 1896 east wing, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Date and survival: the central part of the building is probably mid C17 in date and the west wing is C18, a significant proportion of which survives;
* Plan form: the original two bay end chimneystack plan, followed by the part farm use and part domestic use west wing and a gentrified east wing, is readable both externally and internally, the rooms adapted accordingly and circulation was altered by three successive staircases;
* Fittings and fixtures: there are a number of fixtures and fittings of note including an C18 front door, C17 ceiling beams, Georgian panelling in two rooms, an early to mid-C19 dogleg winder staircase, an original bread oven and the exposed roof structure and weatherboarding in the former malt-house;
* Regional and local characteristics: built of local materials; timber, chalk-stone blocks, ironstone and brick quoins. One of the oldest properties in the Bourne area, the former malt-house had a specialist function and is a reminder of the former important local hop growing industry.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26677116

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

• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects by Harwood, Richard (2012) Paperback
• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of History Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Yorkshire: York and the East Riding (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)