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Latitude: 51.104 / 51°6'14"N
Longitude: 1.1448 / 1°8'41"E
OS Eastings: 620252
OS Northings: 138562
OS Grid: TR202385
Mapcode National: GBR V09.N8F
Mapcode Global: VHLHF.SJK0
Plus Code: 9F33443V+JW
Entry Name: Dane Farm House
Listing Date: 24 October 2016
Grade: II
Source: Historic England
Source ID: 1436937
ID on this website: 101436937
Location: Elvington, Folkestone and Hythe, Kent, CT18
County: Kent
District: Folkestone and Hythe
Civil Parish: Hawkinge
Traditional County: Kent
Lieutenancy Area (Ceremonial County): Kent
Tagged with: Architectural structure
Lobby-entry plan farmhouse of circa 1600, with later alterations and additions.
Pursuant to s.1 (5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (‘the Act’) it is declared that the late C20 extension to the rear of the building is not of special architectural or historic interest.
Lobby-entry plan farmhouse of circa 1600, with later alterations and additions.
MATERIALS: the building is of timber-framed construction; known to have some brick in-fill on the first floor, and thought to have some ragstone in-fill, or over-cladding, on the ground floor. The first floor is now clad in dark-stained weather-board, and the ground floor is covered in white-painted pebble-dash. The roof is covered with clay tiles, and the chimney stack is of brick construction, with some ragstone at the base. Windows are multi-light timber casements, predominantly of C21 date.
PLAN: the building is three bays wide, with a hipped roof; the principal elevation faces E. The central bay is occupied by a substantial chimney stack, over two metres in width on the ground floor. There is an entrance lobby to the front of the stack, and a cupboard and small lobby to the back, in the likely position of the original stair. The stack is flanked by two principal rooms at ground floor. At first floor the rooms have been divided into two bedrooms and a bathroom to the N, and a bedroom and corridor to the S. To the rear is a single-storey, C19, lean-to extension to the N, and a two-storey, late C20, extension to the S. The late C20 extension does not form part of the listed building.
EXTERIOR: the principal elevation is broadly symmetrical, with three windows on the first floor, and a window either side of the central door on the ground floor. The door is of plank and batten construction, hung on strap hinges, with a chunky cyma recta-moulded architrave. The architrave and door are likely to date from the C18 or earlier.
The N and S elevations of the original house may have been blind, certainly the single window now in each are known to be later insertions. The rear elevation of the original house is largely masked by the C19 kitchen extension, also covered in pebble-dash, and the two-storey late C20 extension.
The N elevation, and the N half of the E (front) elevation, show evidence that some of the timber frame has been cut away, presumably replaced with solid masonry. Although all covered in pebble-dash, what appear to be the plinth, and some of the principal structural posts, stand proud of the rest of the wall-face in these areas.
INTERIOR: the two principal ground floor rooms, which flank the central stack, reflect the relative hierarchy of these spaces, and throughout the building, evidence of the original structure is visible.
The ground floor room to the N has a particularly substantial triple-framed ceiling. A large, ovolo-moulded, transverse beam of approximately a foot in width spans the room from front to back; this carries two ovolo-moulded axial beams, running from the end wall to the central stack; and these carry joists which are chamfered and have ogee stops. Some of the wall framing is exposed, but generally the room is finished with plaster, displaying the undulating character of historic materials and workmanship. The fireplace opening has been altered and incorporates modern brickwork, but the straight timber lintel may be original. To either side are plank doors, one giving access to the lobby, and the other to what is now a cupboard. In the NE corner of the room is a narrow stair of probable early C19 date, housed within a planked cupboard.
The room to the S has a more typical double-framed ceiling, comprising an axial beam spanning from the end wall to the central stack, supporting the floor joists. The beam has ovolo mouldings, but the joists are un-chamfered; the joists to the W were replaced when the ‘1897’ stair was removed. The fireplace opening has been altered and incorporates modern brickwork, but broadly accords with the width of the lintel. The opening is smaller than in the neighbouring room, and here the lintel is shouldered and slightly curved. Holes in the face of the lintel may indicate the position of historic cooking apparatus. To either side of the fireplace are plank doors, one giving access to the main front lobby, and the other to what is now a small rear lobby.
The single-storey, C19, kitchen extension encloses part of the back wall of the original house. The ragstone plinth and timber floor plate is exposed, and a doorway with a worn brick step leads up into the principal room to the N.
There has been subdivision of the two first-floor rooms but the structural timber framework is visible in many areas. This includes three of the four jowled posts which form the corners of the N bay, and wall-framing to the E, which suggests the size of original window openings. The ceiling frame to the N is similar to that downstairs, with a transverse beam carrying, in this case a single, ovolo-moulded axial beam. The transverse beam is chamfered and has unusual stops, which might be described as comprising a cushion and a teardrop. The room to the S is now partly given over to a hallway which runs across what would have been the rear of the house. Only one of the jowl posts is visible in this bay, and two are known to have been lost. The rear of the house has been lost at first floor across the S and much of the central bay as a result of the late C20 extension.
Dane Farm House is a lobby-entry plan house, believed to date from circa 1600. It appears to have been the later of two farm houses associated with Dane Farm - the earlier house survives on the opposite (E) side of Elvington Lane, and is known simply as ‘Dane Farm’. The Tithe map of 1842 shows the farm with two loosely arranged yards associated with the respective houses. Kent is an area where partible inheritance could result in split holdings, where seemingly two complexes were actually part of the same farm.
Geoffrey Keynes, in his book, The Life of William Harvey, 1966, suggests that Dane Farm was owned by Thomas Harvey (1549-1623), one time mayor of Folkestone, and father of the noted physician, William Harvey (1578-1675). Thomas Harvey’s will makes reference to his “capitall messuage and lande…knowne by the name or names of West Dane or Arpinge”. The name ‘West Dane’ does not appear on historic maps (the earliest map seen being the Hasted map of 1795). There is however a hamlet of Arpinge, which lies to the W of Dane Farm, or ‘Dane’ as it is labelled by Hasted. Based on this, the evidence for Harvey’s ownership of Dane Farm is not conclusive, but if the farm did belong to the Harvey family, it is likely that Dane Farm House was built by Thomas Harvey, or his heirs shortly after his death in 1623.
The Tithe map of 1842, and the first Ordnance Survey map of 1880, indicates that Dane Farm House was at one time a longer building, extending further to the S. This may reflect an extension or lean-to, or could indicate that the building had an additional bay as part of its original plan. By the OS map of 1898, the house was at its current length, and the footprint of the existing kitchen extension to the rear is clearly marked. As was typical to many larger rural houses, it is thought that Dane Farm House was at one time split into two houses, reflecting a decline in status. An enclosed stair inserted into the N of the two principal rooms survives, and a second, removed from the S of the two principal rooms in the late C20, was marked with the date 1897. This dated stair may have replaced the house’s original stair, which would almost certainly have been positioned on the far side of the chimney stack from the entrance lobby.
It is known that by 1937 the house had returned to a single dwelling, because it was bought by a Mr Gibbons, whose son, Len, mentions the house in his memoirs. Describing the house as of ‘Kentish ragstone and oak beams’, the current pebble-dash on the ground floor must have been added at some point after his father’s ownership. Len Gibbons also mentions that beams carved with dates of the early 1600s were uncovered during renovations in the 1960s (after his family’s ownership). He describes a ‘priest hole’ in the probable location of the original stair; although unlikely to be a genuine priest hole, this suggests that the area behind the inglenook had at one stage been sealed up. By the end of C20 the house had changed hands three more times. Some subdivision took place upstairs to create three bedrooms and a bathroom from the original three-bay house, and towards the end of the C20, a two-storey extension was added to the rear of the building to provide further rooms and a main stair. The roof was completely rebuilt after the Great Storm of 1987.
Dane Farm House, a lobby-entry plan house of circa 1600, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Architectural interest: the house is a good example of a vernacular dwelling which retains a significant proportion of its three-bay timber frame and distinctive lobby-entry plan;
* Interior survival: particularly notable is the N room with its impressive, moulded, triple-frame ceiling; the original high status of this room is interestingly contrasted with the enclosed stair in the NE corner, reflecting the later, more humble, occupation of the house;
* Historic interest: in its early form and subsequent evolution, the building reflects aspects of the changing pattern of rural domestic buildings in the post-Medieval period.
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