No 4 Loose Farm Cottages, Battle, East Sussex

Summary

A semi-detached farm cottage, formerly a farmhouse with C17 origins.

Description

A semi-detached farm cottage, formerly a farmhouse with C17 origins.

MATERIALS: the cottage is of oak timber-framed construction; with replacement brick to the ground floor, apart from at the rear and thr south-west, where there is C21 brick. The first floor is clad in hung clay-tiles, except at the rear where the catslide roof reaches down to the ground floor. The roof is also covered with clay-tiles, and the chimney stacks are of brick construction. Windows are multi-light timber or uPVC casements, and predominantly of C20 or C21 date.

PLAN: the cottage is three bays wide, running broadly north-east to south-west, the two bays to the north-east being within the original timber frame and the third bay to the south-west being a C21 kitchen extension. The principal elevation faces north-west and the roof is hipped at the south-west end over the extension. The main chimney stack is shared with No 3 to the north-east, and there is an entrance lobby to the west of the stack. A second stack projects from the ridge to the south-west. There are two principal rooms at ground-floor level, retaining their original plan. At first-floor level the rooms within the timber frame have been divided into three bedrooms, and to the south-west there are further rooms in the C21 extension. To the rear there is a single-storey C21 extension covered by an extended catslide roof. This houses a C20 stair and stairs to the cellar.

EXTERIOR: the principal elevation of the cottage is of four bays, with the entrance door to the north-east end and the three bays to the south-west having multi-pane casement windows to both storeys. The door is planked, and is probably C19, with a later diamond-shaped opening. The side elevations of the original house are now obscured by No 3 to the north-east and by the C21 extension to the south-west. The rear elevation is dominated by a steep catslide roof. To the south-west there is a C21 two-storey projecting extension under a hipped roof, and also to the rear, a 2017 single-storey brick extension..

INTERIOR: there are two original principal ground-floor rooms. The room to the north-east has a large spine beam with scroll stops, and the fireplace opening to the main stack has been filled and an early-C20 tiled surround added. There are plank-doors, one giving access to the rear and one to the south-western principal room. This room is finished with plaster including a bowed ceiling displaying the uneven character of historic materials and workmanship. This room also has a spine beam with scroll stops. The fireplace here has a late-C20 brick fire-surround. Within the single-storey outshut area, the rear wall of the timber frame is visible. A stone stair descends from here to a brick-lined cellar where replacement timber floor joists are evident. A late C20 timber stair ascends against the rear wall, penetrating the timber frame at first-floor level. The substantial frame is exposed on the first-floor and in-filled with plaster. Throughout the first floor there are visible tension-braces, jowl posts and a double wall plate, suggesting that the eaves have been raised at some time. There has been subdivision of the two first-floor rooms. The room to the north-east is now two bedrooms, divided along the length of the spine beam. The most northerly room has an alcove that stands above the entrance lobby below, beside the narrowing body of the main stack. This room also has an indication within the frame of a possible earlier window opening, at the southern end of the north-western wall. The room to the south-west has been divided to provide a passage leading to the C21 extension. The attic space is fitted out for living accommodation, with five sky-lights to the rear elevation. Underneath the C21 plaster board and structural additions, the pegged roof structure comprises large coupled rafters with collars to the principals, and purlins to the south-west part of the roof; there is a later structure of supporting braces to the north-east part of the roof.

This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 05/01/2018

History

It is probable that there has been a farm on the site at Loose Farm from at least the C17, but the first documentary evidence of its existence is confirmed by a historic map of 1724. The associated records show that the farm at that time consisted of 184 acres, with a farmhouse located in the three-acre House Meadow. The farm evolved throughout the C18, gaining barns and other outbuildings and by 1770 was recorded as being of 185 acres and occupied by Robert Furner. In the early C20 a replacement farmhouse was built to the north of the site, and by the late C20 all the farm buildings had been converted to residential dwellings. The farm's land is still predominantly in agricultural use.

The building now known as No 4 Loose Farm Cottages is one of a pair of semi-detached cottages that stand to the south-east of the farm complex. It is thought that No 4 and part of No 3 were formerly a single building, which was the farmhouse for the site. The surviving timber frame of the building indicates that it has C17 origins, while the form and date of the building suggests it is likely to have had a lobby entry plan, with a large stack heating rooms to the north-east and the south-west, an entrance lobby to the north-west of the stack, and probably originally a stair to the south-east. The irregular boundary line between the cottages means that apart from the obvious sharing of the main stack, some other historic fabric may remain within No 3. The room further to the south-west, was heated by a separate stack at that end of the building, and formed part of the original plan. It is not known precisely when the lean-to range along the rear of the building was constructed, but given that the frame at the rear is not weathered, it is likely there was a single-storey service area here from an early point in the building’s history.

Both the 1724, and 1770 maps show a pictoral image of a farmhouse in the vicinity of No 4. Although the drawings differ, both show a house with a central entrance, two end-stacks, and what appears to be a lean-to rear portion with a catslide roof; neither drawing depicts features relating directly to those of the current building. Although drawings of this kind may not be entirely reliable, it suggests that the building may alternatively have been built as a two-cell cottage, or reduced to this form by this date. A Tithe map dated 1859 shows the development of associated farmyard buildings opposite. On this map there is the footprint of a broadly rectangular building at the location of the current cottages, with the majority being within the plan of the current No 4. This footprint can also be seen on the early large-scale Ordnance Survey (OS) map editions of 1867 and 1899. By the 1909 edition, the plan is shown as divided into two dwellings and successive historic maps show it in this form. The current edition of the OS map has more detail and shows the boundary between No 4 and its neighbour No 3, as an irregular line, snaking around the principal stack.

Perhaps as part of a conversion to cottages, the building has had a brick front added to the ground-floor portion of the front elevation, as was common at the time, replacing some of the timber frame. Based on the brick type and bond, it is probable that this occurred in the later C18 or early C19. The upper portion of the timber frame has also been clad in hung clay-tiles, and it is likely that this change occurred at a similar time. At some time since the survey made for the 1930 OS map, a small extension was added to the north-east end of No 3, and in the early C21, a two-storey extension has been added to the south-west end of No 4. The attic of No 4 was also converted to living accommodation in 2017, and a single-storey extension added to the rear.

Reasons for Listing

No 4 Loose Farm Cottages, a former farmhouse with C17 timber-framed origins is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:
* a good example of an adapted C17 vernacular farmhouse which retains a significant proportion of its timber frame, roof structure and historic plan;

* particularly notable is the legibility of the visible timber frame internally.

Historic interest:
* as a vernacular C17 farmhouse, which later developed into a pair of cottages, that coupled with the documentary record shows evidence of its evolution and change of use.

External Links

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.