Lock's Farmhouse, Bishops Waltham, Hampshire

Summary

C17 farmhouse, extended and remodelled in the late C19 and further extended in the C20/C21.

Description

C17 farmhouse, extended and remodelled in the late C19 and further extended in the C20/C21.

MATERIALS: the principal C17 range is constructed of hand-made brown brick laid in a variety of bonds including English, and has grey, squared-stone quoins. The C19/C20 extension ranges are built of stock brick in stretcher bond. The windows are timber and the roofs are clay tiled.

PLAN: the building has three parallel ranges broadly aligned north to south with the C17 range to the centre, a C19 range to the west and C20/C21 range to the east. The C17 core has evidence of a former lobby entry plan with entrance to the west side, which is now internal and has been replaced by the main staircase.

EXTERIOR: the centre of the northern elevation is formed by the three-storey C17 range, which stands on a plinth of red bricks. The ground floor has an entrance to the right-hand side, which has stone jambs and projecting caps, surmounted by a moulded, round-headed fanlight under a brick arch. The solid timber door has four panels and C19 door furniture. To the centre, there is a multi-pane, tripartite casement window surmounted by a segmental brick arch and flanked by stone quoins. A similar window is on the first floor, but without quoins. The attic storey has a central, multi-pane casement window which is set directly below the eaves. The end roof rafters are visible to either side of the half-hipped roof.

The east side elevation of the C17 range is also partially visible. On the ground floor it has three irregularly sized windows under brick, segmental arches; a multi-paned casement with a vestigial, stone quoin (perhaps from a former smaller opening), a small, two-over-two, horned sash window and a larger two-over-two, sash window. There are regular, four-pane casement windows to the first floor. From the left; a C20 addition under a concrete lintel, two four-pane, and one eight-pane, side-opening casement. The C17 main roof has a group of four, tall chimney stacks to the ridge.

The north elevation of the C19 western range is set back and has a half-hipped roof. On the ground floor it has an open-sided timber porch with pitched roof, over a planked door. To the first floor and offset to the left, there is a two over two, horned sash window. To the centre there is an inserted carved panel formed of three curved blades within a wheel, set into a square moulding with spandrels to each corner. The side elevation to the west has two, two over two, horned sash windows and a four-pane casement window. The ridge carries a pair of grouped chimney stacks. The north elevation of the C20 eastern range is gable-ended and has a single, four-pane, horned sash window to the first floor. Further to the east, there is a timber-framed and glazed early-C21 extension, which has a hipped-roof with a glazed lantern forming the ridge. To the northern end, the eastern side elevation has a single, one over one sash window to the first floor and the main roof ridge caries a brick chimney stack.

The rear elevation of the building is centred on the south end of the C17 range. This is similar in form to the north end, but to the centre there is a canted bay window to the ground and first floor, each of which has three, horned sash windows, under stone lintels. The central window is two over two and those to the sides are one over one. The attic storey has a central, multi-pane casement window which is set directly below the eaves. The southern end of the C17, east side elevation is visible and is formed of brown brickwork with the same characteristic, grey stone quoins and a plinth which is constructed of brick, augmented by grey stone blocks. To the west, the southern end of the C19 range is half-hipped and has canted bay windows to the same design. To the east, the C20 range is gable ended and has a multi-pane casement window under a segmental brick arch to the ground floor and a two over two, horned sash window to the first floor.

INTERIOR: the ground floor of the C17 range has three linear rooms running south, with the southernmost two divided by a stack. Most rooms have C19, panelled doors with moulded architraves. The dining room is to the north of the stack and has a C19 cast-iron fireplace surround. Brick steps descend from this room to a cellar which is mainly brick-paved, but has a stone-paved vestibule to the west side, which may indicate the position of a former external entrance. The sitting room is south of the stack and has been opened up into the west range through round-headed arches. It has an inglenook fireplace formed of hand-made bricks in English bond, beneath a substantial bressumer. At the back of the fireplace there are the vestigial remains of an inset bread oven. All of the ground floor rooms have spine beams which are chamfered and have stepped run out stops.

The first floor is interconnected to the extension ranges to the east and west. The doors are panelled or planked and have plain architraves. There is a winder staircase to the north front which serves both the floors and the attic. It is steep and has plain spindles and a square-section handrail. The substantial, hand-cut floor frame of the attic storey has adze marks and is exposed in the southernmost bedroom. The west wall of this room has a blocked-up window with a shallow cambered arch set into a moulded architrave. Off the landing, there is an inset shelf within a former window opening.

The attic has been opened up to form a long room with the chimney stack towards the centre. The timber frame of the roof is exposed and is formed of hand-cut rafters which appear to be joined at the apex (hidden by plasterwork). They are supported by continuous purlins, with bridled joints. The purlins are supported from the floor by upright braces, perhaps added after the removal of posts supporting the ridge. One curved wind brace survives, linking three rafters. The hip rafters survive to both ends. The C19 and C20 ranges have plain fixtures and fittings, which are predominantly C20. The main staircase (C19) rises above the original lobby entrance and has a moulded handrail, straight spindles and a squared newel post with ball finial. The canted bay windows have a moulded architrave and panelled wainscoting. To the first floor there are bedrooms and bathrooms which are interconnected with the C17 first floor.

History

Lock’s Farmhouse is located around 1km south of the Bishops Waltham Palace, where during the English Civil War, royalist cavaliers were besieged for three days and eventually forced to surrender. In 1645, Oliver Cromwell ordered the slighting of the palace, and it is known that stone from the palace was reused to build or enhance local buildings. Lock’s Farmhouse has hand-made bricks, squared stone quoins of grey stone and a carved panel that are similar to examples at the palace lodgings. It stands within the confines of the former Bishop Waltham Palace park and it is known that the parkland was given over to agriculture around 1663. Lock’s Farmhouse was at the centre of the agricultural infrastructure responsible for managing the land, a role it held until at least the mid-C19.

Lock’s Farmhouse is shown on the 1806 Crocker’s Map and buildings are shown in the vicinity on the 1-inch, 1810 Ordnance Survey (OS) map. The Tithe map of 1839, records the farmhouse as part of apportionment 793. The 1868 1:2,500 OS map shows Lock's Farmhouse with a T-shaped footprint. Between 1871 and 1896, the OS mapping indicates that the farmhouse was enlarged to the west side, including projections to the south, which correspond with surviving canted bay windows. This indicates a gentrification of the house around this time and a move of the main entrance from the west side to the north. Prior to this the house would have had a lobby entry plan with heated rooms to either side of the stack (north and south), an unheated room at the north end and probably a kitchen range to the east. The original stairs survive to the east of the stack, but their access from the southernmost room and behind the stack are now blocked up. The cellar access is now internal but may have formerly been by external steps to the west side. The late-C19 changes probably include the size and design of the window openings to the north elevation and to the ground floor at the north end of the west elevation. The 1896 OS map shows a granary and stable to the north and west of the house. The 1964 edition shows further extension to the house to the north-east and the latest edition of the OS map records an early C21 extension to the east side.

Reasons for Listing

Lock's Farmhouse of the C17, extended and remodelled in the late C19 and further extended in the C20/C21, is listed at Grade II, for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* although altered in the C19 and C20/C21, the farmhouse retains a substantial proportion of its C17 and C19 historic fabric;

* for the C17 survival of good quality, well-crafted materials and features including the stone quoins and brickwork to the exterior, and the inglenook fireplace, chamfered beams, substantial main stack, a vestigial window architrave and the majority of the roof structure to the interior;

* for the evidence of the former lobby entrance plan, with intact winder staircase east of the stack;

* for the C19 survival of architectural detail including canted bay windows, the C19 main stairs, panelled and plank doors and a fireplace to the dining room.

Historic interest:

* for its location within the park of Bishops Waltham Palace and its role in farming the estate from the C17.

Group value:

* it possesses historical and functional group value with Bishops Waltham Palace, a Scheduled Monument;

* with Lock's Farmhouse Granary, located to the north-west of the farmhouse.

External Links

Historic England Listing

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