Summary
Former farmhouse of the C17, incorporating C16 fabric. From at least the late-C19 the building was a pair of cottages, reverting to a single dwelling in the mid-C20.
Description
A detached house, formerly a farmhouse of the C17, incorporating C16 fabric. From at least the late-C19 the building was a pair of cottages, reverting to a single dwelling in the mid-C20.
MATERIALS: stone and red-purple brick elevations beneath a tile-covered roof, incorporating a timber-framed structure.
PLAN: the historic plan-form is not clear owing to later modifications but appears unusual with chimneys set against the central spine wall. There is no indication about the extent and form of the C16 building that may have been on site.
In essence, the current house comprises two main rooms at the centre and east of the ground and first floors, each with a fireplace at the ground floor (against the spine wall). To the north of the wall is an axial service bay or outshut running the length of the building and at the western end of the building, at a lower level, is a third, narrower bay with an end stack to the west. It is likely that when the building was a pair of cottages, one cottage incorporated the north axial bay and the other the western bay for service uses, forming inverted 'L' plans to each cottage.
EXTERIOR: the house has two storeys beneath a hipped roof with tiled covering; there is a slight break in the tiling of the north pitch where the roof descends over the north service bay suggesting this may be a later modification or repair. There are three slender stacks- two mid-north pitch and a third end stack at the west. All doors and most fenestration is PVC-u in mostly modern openings. The brick elevations are generally laid in English bond, except where new openings have necessitated repair. Approximately the western two-thirds of the south-facing elevation have been rebuilt with C20 bricks; additional structural strapping wraps around the east elevation, applied in the C21 to prevent structural damage. The north elevation has lower, irregular rubble ragstone, probably in a reused context and approximately 1m in depth, above which is red brick to the full height; there is an off-centre entrance with a timber door and a second entrance through a small porch with gablet at the west end. The west elevation is of irregular rubble ragstone with red brick dressings; galetting is present in the joints between some stones. There is a window at the ground floor and an inserted dormer above.
INTERIOR: at the ground floor, the off-centre entrance from the north elevation leads into the axial service bay currently (2021) a modern kitchen with quarry tile flooring. Later remodelling of this bay is suggested by the roof structure which comprises a timber wall plate and rafters of narrow and irregular scantling with metal tie rods. An exposed brick spine wall to the rear extends to the full height in the centre of the building, against which the chimney pieces in the ground floor rooms, and spiral stairs to the first floor, are placed. The western return of this spine wall, which defines the east wall of the lower west bay, is partly constructed of coursed ragstone with occasional red brick, possibly of Roman origin, all likely to be in a reused context. It forms a plinth for a timber-framed cross wall, being topped by a sole plate of significant scantling from which rises a post, with carpenter’s marks, that carries on upwards to a midrail and then through to the first floor and possibly the roof. This west bay is divided into a north and south room and has an in-situ floor frame of varying scantling, probably C17 in date. The floor frame of the north room comprises roughly worked joists with crude chamfers: there is a remodelled brick fireplace with a bresummer against the west wall. The south room has a floor frame of thin scantling and an exposed plaque in the east wall with graffiti giving the date 1719 and the initial RS.
Both the central and east bay are a step higher than the west bay, and have been modernised in the C20. They both have chamfered and stopped axial bridging beams; the central bay has machine-sawn joists, but none are exposed in the east bay. The presence of wide floorboards on the first floor above suggests that the floor frames survive well. To the rear of both bays, against the wall described above, are fireplaces; that to the centre is an inglenook with a bresummer, with some replacement brickwork to the hearth and a modern grate. To the east of it is a plank door with strap hinges leading to the spiral staircase to the first floor. The fireplace to the east bay is heavily rebuilt with modern brickwork and a reworked timber bresummer; to the west of it is a modern door into the north service bay.
At the first floor, a modern partition has been inserted to form an access corridor parallel to the spine wall. A second spiral staircase leading to the roof space and a cupboard (where the central stack can be observed) are accessed from the corridor. Between is an exposed timber beam with a carpenter’s mark and possible apotropaic symbol, comprising two circles with a central line. The height difference between the west bay and the rest of the building remains at the first floor and the cross frame defining the east side of the bay is exposed. In the north room of this bay the substantial vertical post observed at the ground floor continues and is lightly jowled; one downward ogee brace jointed into the dropped tie beam remains, but the bracing on the other side of the post has been replaced with modern timbers. In the south room (a bathroom) the cross frame has a jowled corner post with an arched downward brace. The studs are of varying scanting and some are crudely finished. In both rooms the wall plates, hip rafters, common rafters and jack rafters are exposed and the floorboards are wider than modern types. In the central and east bays, there is no exposed timber wall framing, but the floorboards are wider still, suggesting in-situ floor frames.
The spiral staircase continues to the roof space where a beam running atop the spine wall is pegged and jointed into a vertical post and a substantial tie beam. In the roof space, the hip structure to the east has been replaced in the C20, and additional structural timbers have been introduced throughout, but over the central and west bays there appears to be an in-situ staggered butt purlin roof with cranked windbraces to the south and north pitch, collars, principal and common rafters, all jointed and pegged. The purlins are tenoned into the principal rafters and the rafters are simply coupled at the apex, with no ridge piece. The presence of double rows of nails on the lower part of the principal rafters, on the underside of the collars and some additional nails on the common rafters indicate that, as originally constucted, there was a lath and plaster ceiling extending as high as the collar. Although not easily accessible, the west hip structure appears to remain in situ.
History
Westenhanger Castle, a fortified manor house of the C14, granted a licence to crenellate in 1343, has C16 additions, probably for Sir Edward Poynings, partly rebuilt in the C18. The castle, a scheduled monument and listed at Grade I, has been restored in recent years and is currently (2021) a wedding venue owned by Folkestone and Hythe District Council. Historically, the castle stood within a deer park of at least 400 acres. That part of the park to the south of the castle is the site of the proposed Otterpool Park development, bifurcated by the shallow valley of the East Stour river.
Twin Chimneys is the former farmhouse to a steading described by the Kent Historic Environment Record (HER) as a C19 loose-courtyard farmstead with buildings to one side, and lies to the south-east of Westenhanger Castle on the east side of Stone Street, within the eastern part of the Castle's former deer park (the park was probably extended on the east side of Stone Street in the first half of the C16). The house lies some 150m south of the site of Pound House (now demolished), a building of Tudor origins, later converted into workers’ cottages. The Kent HER records that during the demolition of Pound Cottages in approximately 1910, a C16 residence was discovered within, comprising a gable and ceiling panels bearing the crest of Henry VIII and other motifs (HER reference TR 13 NW 286). This building has been interpreted as the remains of the estate’s bailiff’s or Steward’s house, but Stamper (2020) opines that it could have been a lodge or overflow accommodation for visiting hunting parties given the high status of its decoration. Pound House lay on the south side of a track which led to the castle; both track and building are clearly depicted on historic Ordnance Survey (OS) mapping.
Twin Chimneys appears to incorporate in situ C16 fabric in the current building, specifically the stone-built west elevation, which has galetting similar to that found in the C16 Westenhanger barns. The lower stone courses of the north elevation and a section of stone internal walling, are more likely to represent reused stone in the C17 house. It is feasible that the house incorporates the remains of a medieval building associated with the Westenhanger Castle estate, particularly given its position within the eastern deer park. A different interpretation is put forward by Evelyn Holt in her booklet titled ‘A short History of Stanford’ (undated) where it is stated that the farmhouse was part of the Sandling Park Estate and dates to 1729. Holt writes that the building incorporates ‘a beam in the hall with a C13 or C14 monastery mark on it’ and that the stone from the present house came from Westenhanger Castle and the roof timbers came from old ships. Sandling Park estate (registered Park and Garden List entry 1000262) is a C19 and C20 designed landscape developed on the site of the ‘ancient woodland’ of Westenhanger in the late C18 by the Deedes family.
In addition to the C16 fabric, the current building has external brick walling and internal timber framing probably dating to C17, and so it is reasonable to assume that the steading had origins in this early post-medieval period.
The house and farm are not clearly shown on the 1769 Andrews, Dury and Herbert map, owing to the presence of boundary lines, but are shown on the 1797 OS field surveyors map as two buildings on the south side of a subsidiary road leading south-eastwards from Stone Street to Ashford Lane. The same is also true of the 1842 Saltwood Tithe map which shows the house as a small enclosed area containing two structures, labelled ‘Tin Chimneys’. At this time the owner of the house is given as William Deedes Esq, and occupied by William Ovenden. The lane which joined Stone Street and Ashford Road is lost by this date but is represented by the field boundary to the north.
The 1871 1:2500 OS map refers to the steading as Tin Chimneys Farm and shows the house to the west and a secondary building complex to the east, likely to be the barns referred to by the HER, on two sides of a yard. The house appears to have an ‘L’ shape with an outbuilding further to the west and yard immediately to the front of the house, but this seems at odds with our understanding of the evolution of the current building and may not be accurate. There are gardens and a possible orchard further to the west.
On the 1898 OS map, the house has been subdivided into a pair of cottages. Holt recalls that one of cottages was occupied by the Palmer family of 13 children, one girl and 12 boys, 11 of whom served in the army or navy. An accompanying article, dating to the period of the First World War, states that the parents had lived in one of the cottages for 25 years and the father was a wagoner and carter for Hillhurst Farm. A well is also marked north of the house and a single barn with a yard to the east. The same arrangement is indicated in the 1907 1:2500 OS map, with a rectangular building erected north of the house which may be a well house. By the 1931 OS map the building complex to the east has been removed. Holt writes that the house ‘was a wreck’ by 1950 and was sold to the Mayoress of Hythe who spend a great deal of time and money restoring it to a single dwelling.
By the 1970-74 1:2500 OS map the northern well house has been removed as has the well. A square building has been added to the north-west of the parcel of land, this is the garage which can still be seen today. The house has also been renamed as ‘Twin Chimneys’.
Recent owners have continued refurbishment, replacing all fenestration with PVC-u units, replacing the east hip of the roof and adding structural support at this elevation. A planning application for extensions to the building has been approved by the local planning authority.
Reasons for Listing
Twin Chimneys, Westenhanger, a farmhouse retaining possible C16 fabric incorporated within a building probably of the C17, converted into two cottages in the late C19, reverting to a single dwelling in the mid C20, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
Architectural interest:
* as a probable C17 house incorporating one wall of a C16 structure, where a significant proportion of original fabric remains including external walling, internal timber-framing and most of the roof structure;
* the presence of carpenter’s marks, possible apotropaic marks and graffito of 1719 is unusual and adds to the architectural distinctiveness of the building.
Historic interest:
* the evolution of the house from the C16 to the C20 is illustrative of the historical development of vernacular housing during this period;
* the plan-form and staggered butt-purlin roof is unusual regionally contributing to the national historic interest of the house.
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.
Recommended Books
Harrow on the Hill: A photographic portrayal of listed buildings and structures (Historic Buildings Picture Guides)
The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
For the Record
Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
Yorkshire West Riding: Leeds, Bradford and the North (Pevsner Architectural Guides / Buildings of England)