Lower Hardwick House and barn, Eardisland, County of Herefordshire

Summary

A C15 hall house with C16/C17 additions including a cross wing and an inserted counter-change ceiling. The barn is timberframed and of C17 date.

Description

A C15 hall house, modified in the C16/C17 with the addition of a south crosswing, the insertion of a first floor in the hall and the raising of roof levels; and with subsequent additions and adaptations. The barn is probably of C17 date with later alterations.

MATERIALS: the pre-C18 parts of the building are largely timber framed with plaster, wattle and daub and brick infill panels and repairs. The later parts are constructed of brick with some reused elements from other buildings. The façade is faced in brick and weatherboarding. The timber roofs are covered in slate.

PLAN: the house faces east with its associated farm buildings to the north and east. It is of two storeys.

EXTERIOR: the principal façade of the house is of three distinct brick phases plus weatherboard to the right bay. The roof is hipped to the left with a brick end stack and a central and right ridge stack. The modern timber casements are set within brick segmental arches and to the ground floor right is an inserted bow window. To the left of the central (hall) bay is the main door with a modern projecting timber porch that is not of special interest. The south flank is timber-framed with rendered panels, an external brick stack to the right and inserted timber casements with leaded lights. This end of the house (the cross wing) is built on a raised level above rubble stone walling. The rear (west) of the cross wing is timber-famed with passing braces to the bottom corners and a raised gable end. A window to the ground floor centre is probably an adapted door opening and there is a projecting window to the gable. The panel above the bottom right brace has a window head to the rail, which is pegged into a corner post. There are various repairs to the cross wing framing. To the left are two C21 single-storey extensions that are attached to the rear of the hall and are not of special interest. The rear wall of the hall is timber-framed with a dormer stair window breaking through the eaves. Further left is a change in the height of the eaves and the roof pitch is shallower. The walls are timber-framed and, to the left, weatherboarded above modern brick cill walls.

INTERIOR: the historic layout of the house is discernible although now altered. The main door opens into the former open hall. The counter-change ceiling which was inserted into the hall in the C17 mostly survives; it spans the hall terminating at the north end with a large stone inglenook fireplace and the foot of a smoke-blackened cruck blade. The rear (west) of the ceiling has been truncated for the insertion of an oak stair of probable late C20 date. The ceiling has deeply chamfered principal beams and exposed joists which are unchamfered and some are modern replacements. The inglenook has an oak bressumer with a chamfered arch and taper burn marks to its front face. The fireplace has had some alterations including the insertion of steels and concrete beams, and a bread oven to the rear appears to have been removed. The northern end of the house has been remodelled at ground floor level and is largely of modern character in a neoclassical style with reproduction fireplaces and fittings.

In the hall, the feet of the four cruck blades rest on padstones on a floor laid with stone roof tiles. One blade is enclosed in a understair cupboard with a pier of handmade red brick. The blade rises behind the stair to the roof apex as a complete smoke-blackened cruck blade with decorative cusping. Other elements of the decorative treatment to this open truss have been removed to allow for accommodation in the first floor and for the insertion of a wide stone chimneybreast above the inglenook. The opposing cruck blade has had a section completely removed resulting in movement at apex level. A second smoke-blackened cruck truss with no cusping forms the south end of the hall. At ground floor level the truss is closed within a stud wall with a stone cill wall and wattle and daub infill. The base of the cruck blade by the front door has been cut out to form a wider doorway into the cross wing. The base of the opposing blade is intact with some adaptation to the framing around it and it adjoins the timber-framed rear (west) wall by the stair. In the cross wing behind the framed south wall is a possible former medieval screen that survives as a post and crossbeam. The post rises to first floor level where it has been truncated but remains in position between bedroom doorways.

The two-bay cross wing extends west beyond the rear building line of the hall. The ground floor room to the east has two chamfered beams that are stopped at the west end, in addition to the screen crossbeam. There is an inserted stone fireplace to the south wall with an oak bressumer. The west room (kitchen) has two chamfered beams and other exposed framing. To the first floor, both rooms share an exposed timber-framed wall with some replaced elements. The C17 roof structure above has some modern replaced timbers and adjoins the apex of the south cruck truss. The two bedrooms in the cross wing are of different floor heights and there is a step up into the first-floor area above the hall. A corridor to the left of the stone inglenook breast leads to the later parts of the house to the north. A room behind the chimney breast has a small iron fireplace with stone hearth and a C17 doorframe with plank door and iron fitments. The other rooms to the first floor have no visible historic fittings and two timber wall posts to the north bedroom appear to be reused from elsewhere. The north end of the house is of lesser interest but may contain remains of earlier structures on the site concealed within it.

BARN

A barn of probable C17 date with attached byre at the east end.

MATERIAL: constructed of timber with some brick and stone cill walls and a brick and timber byre.

DESCRIPTION: of timber-frame construction and of four bays with opposing doorways and weatherboarding. The exterior of the north wall is a complete exposed complete pegged timber frame. The closed trusses have braces to the tie beams, high collars and brick cill walls, and there are two sets of purlins. At least one cusped brace is most likely reused from the C15 roof in the house. The east truss is attached to a lofted byre with stalls and a timber manger. The timber-framed south wall of the byre is a C21 replacement. Some of the floors are covered in cobblestones. Attached to the west wall of the barn is a C20 lean-to glasshouse that is not of special interest.

History

Lower Hardwick House was most probably built as part of a farmstead in the C15 and subsequently formed part of the small settlement of Lower Hardwick with neighbouring dwellings and farm buildings constructed by the C17. At this time the farmstead was better connected to adjacent farms via headland tracks and roads and may have been a nodal point within the landscape prior to C19 field enclosures. By the early-C19 and the time of the tithe survey of Eardisland Parish in 1842, Lower Hardwick House was in the ownership and occupation of James Watkins who held a large amount of the farmland in the local area. The remaining track to the west is shown on the tithe map, and has since been taken out of use.

The house is a multi-phased building which appears to have begun as a full-cruck hall, probably in the C15. A two-bay crosswing was built at the south end of the hall, probably in the C16, and possibly replacing an earlier solar wing or parlour. A first floor was inserted in the hall around the same period as the construction of the cross wing with a framed ceiling formed of alternately laid joists in each adjacent panel in a counter-change arrangement. The large inglenook fireplace to the hall may have been inserted in the C17 around the time of the raising of the crosswing roof. The two smoke-blackened cruck trusses were also altered, and some further adaptations such as the removal of part of the inglenook and insertion of steels and concrete beams have taken place later. A possible northern second bay to the hall with a third cruck may have been removed or truncated in the later development of the building. The attached buildings shown to the north end of the hall on the tithe map are depicted as having a narrower width than the house and may have been farm buildings that were since replaced with the current two storey house. In the C19 and C20 there have been further adaptations to the building including the refronting of the façade in brick in three separate phases, adaptations to the roof structures and the insertion of an oak stair to the hall. There have been further additions to the rear of the hall in the C21.

The adjacent barn, probably built for threshing, is shown on the 1842 tithe map and appears to be of C17 date but with later adaptations and includes some reused fabric: at least one cusped brace is possibly from the open hall within the house. The byre attached to the north-east end of the barn, on the First Edition Ordnance Survey (OS) Map of 1886, has been partly rebuilt in the C21. The OS map also shows a building to the east of the house which has been rebuilt in late C20. There are other detached C20 and C21 outbuildings and structures across the site.

Reasons for Listing

Lower Hardwick House and barn are listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* as a medieval hall house with C16 and later adaptations this is an early and noteworthy example of an historic dwelling;
* it is well-constructed with high quality features including a rare late C16 inserted ‘counter-change’ ceiling to the hall, two largely intact smoke-blackened full cruck trusses and an inglenook fireplace;
* the evidence of change through the addition of a C16 cross-wing at the probable ‘high end’ of the hall, insertion of a hall ceiling and inglenook and raising of the roof height to provide first floor accommodation illustrate the evolved historic use of the building;
* the barn is a well-constructed timber-framed agricultural building that survives very well and is an excellent example of the vernacular building traditions of the region;
* the buildings retain a substantial proportion of their historic fabric and layout.

Historic interest:

* the high quality of the medieval built fabric, particularly the cusped open cruck truss and the regionally distinctive hall ceiling, indicates that this was a high-status building in the area;
* the plan form illustrates late medieval domestic arrangements and how they developed in later centuries.

Group value:

* the house and barn have group value with each other and as part of a nucleated set of farmsteads including St Mary’s (Grade II) and Lower Hardwick Farmhouse (Grade II).

External Links

Historic England Listing

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