Description

RINGSHALL BILDESTON ROAD
TM 05 SW

5/160 Nine Elms Farmhouse
-
21.1.1998 II

A former farmhouse of two storeys and attics on a three-cell lobby-entrance plan. Timber-framed and rendered over externally with a C20 rough-cast render. Steeply-pitched and gabled roof coated in long-straw thatch. The main axis of the house is aligned approximately east-west. There is an axial chimney stack offset to the East. The stack is mostly of red brick but has been rebuilt in gault brick above the ridge-line. Attached to the West gable is a later, lower one-storey-and attic service range, perhaps a bakehouse, with an internal gable-chimney; the red brick of the stack is exposed externally in the gable wall. The fenestration of the north elevation is mixed and rather scattered with two original mullioned windows (of four and five lights) flanking a C20 casement at first floor level; on the ground floor are four casements of one, two and three lights and a three-over-three pane sash window with architrave. The Western extension has a doorway and three-light casement with a two-light attic window above, set in a gabled dormer. The south elevation has a three-window range of two-light casements with glazing bars and two four pane sashes, all C20 replacements. There is a similarly-detailed smaller two light casement in the western range. The half-glazed entrance door opposite the chimney stack is set under a tiled porch roof on straight brackets. At the north-east corner of the main range is a new two-storey extension, oak-framed, externally rendered and with a red clay plain-tiled roof. There is a tall axial red brick chimney stack terminating in three diagonally-set linked shafts.

INTERIOR: Extensively exposed timber frame of good quality, close studding set on a sole-plate and low plinth. The roof over the main range has a clasped-purlin roof with nailed-on curved wind-bracing; there is a part-ceiling above collar level to the centre section. Roof over later addition of less quality with every fourth rafter having a deep collar clasping a light purlin. Parlour is to the East of the stack, defined by tie-beams tenoned into storey posts at the stack and East gable wall. These ties support a central bridging beam which has unstopped chamfers and may be a replacement. The wall studs are tenoned into a mid-rail set just below the junction of the tie-beam and storey-post. On the South side the mid-rail has been interrupted to allow the insertion of a new sash window. Red brick fireplace, partly rebuilt with a renewed bressummer. Above, the parlour chamber has a bridging beam with ogee stops to the chamfer. There is evidence of a six-light diamond-mullioned window with shutter groove in the north wall, but the evidence is partly lost by the replacement of a substantial section of the window head. Good fireplace with chamfers to the brick reveals and bressummer. The wall-plate to the South is much-renewed. The tops of the storey-posts are jowled but no evidence of bracing. The hall, west of the chimney, is subdivided by modern partitioning, but is two bays wide. There is a central tie-beam with unstopped chamfers supporting a two-section bridging beam. The first-floor joists are exposed and set 'on edge'. Blocked central doorway into the service room to the west, but no visible evidence of a former cross-passage. The service room has first floor joists set 'on-edge' and running parallel to the ridge line. Much of the partitioning and framing to the south of this area has been introduced or renewed. At first floor level above, the chimney stack bay is defined by arch-braced and cambered tie-beams. There is no fireplace in the room to the West of the stack, and the fireplace in the parlour chamber is housed in an apparent addition to the original chimney. The ground floor of the added service room to the West is lower; there is a red brick fireplace, extensively rebuilt, set in a stack-bay defined by an arch-braced tie beam spanning between storeyposts. The tie beam is set slightly above the level of the inserted upper floor which is pierced by the braces. A straight-flight service stair, in north east corner, of triangular section solid treads nailed to two runners. The rise of the stair relates to the storey-height of the service room in the earlier range (i.e. it starts from the earlier, higher floor level), but the stair appears to have been re-sited and re-used and cuts across a blocked mullioned window.

HISTORY:
The framing and plan-form of the house suggest an early C17 date. The lower service range, perhaps a bakehouse, to the west is a later addition, probably in the later C17 and its construction necessitated a revision of the access arrangements to the upper service floors. The main axial chimney has been modified to provide an additional fireplace in the parlour chamber. The present lobby-entrance plan may reflect a mid-C17 uprating of an earlier arrangement but there is now no visible evidence to support this.

SUMMARY OF IMPORTANCE:
This is a good-quality, significant, timber-framed farmhouse of the early C17 which survives largely in its original form, substantially complete.The lobby-entrance plan may be a later modification, but there is no discernable evidence of an earlier cross-passage arrangement, although there has been alteration and repairs to the framing. The use of close-studding for the parlour and its upper chamber is noteworthy in that it indicates a house of high status. The solid-tread service stair is an interesting survival, although it is not now in its original location within the building. There is a late C17 addition to the west and some work has been done to correct structural problems in the south wall.

Listing NGR: TM0192053435

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26494372

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

• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 3: North West: North West v. 3 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Listed Buildings, Conservation Areas and Monuments
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of History Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)