Description

CLYST ST LAWRENCE
SY 09 NW
5/35 Hitts Farmhouse including barn
adjoining to east
11.11.52
GV II

Farmhouse. Probably C16 origins with major C17 improvements, some C19
modernisation. Plastered cob on stone rubble footings, the front is lightly incised
as ashlar; stone rubble stacks topped with C19 brick; thatch roof, a small part
replaced with slate.
Plan and development: 3-room-and-through-passage plan house facing south and built
across the hillslope. At the left (west) end is an inner room parlour with a
projecting gable-end stack. The parlour was reduced in size in the C19 when a stair
was inserted alongside the hall crosswall. The hall has a rear projecting lateral
stack. The rear of the passage is now blocked by a secondary stair. The right end
room is a kitchen with a front lateral stack and large oven housing. Since the roof
was not available for inspection at the time of this survey it was not possible to
determine whether the house contains any evidence of C16 work, nor is it possible to
determine the early structural history of the house in any detail. Nevertheless it
seems likely that the house began as some form of open hall house. It is 2 storeys.
Exterior: irregular 4-window front of late C19 - early C20 casements with glazing
bars. There are 2 front doorways, the right one to the passage and the left one is
a later insertion to the stairs; both contain early C20 part-glazed doors. The
right end is hidden behind a C19 farmbuilding, the closest part of which contains
the pumphouse. The main roof is gable-ended to left and to right is hipped down
onto the adjoining barn roof.
Interior: shows largely the results of C19 and C20 modernisations but these appear
to have been mostly superficial and the original layout is well-preserved. On the
ground floor the carpentry detail which is exposed is C17, the hall and kitchen have
chamfered and scroll-stopped crossbeams. The parlour crossbeam is clad with
plaster. All the fireplaces are blocked by C19 and C20 grates. The roof was not
available for inspection at the time of this survey.
There is a barn adjoining the right (east) end. It is probably C17 but was much
rebuilt in the C19. It is built of cob on stone rubble footings with parts rebuilt
in C19 English bond brick. It has a tile roof, formerly thatch. It has opposing
full height doorways onto the threshing floor a little left (west) of centre and the
front doorway is flanked by short projecting midstrey walls. There is a hayloft
loading hatch in the right end wall and a former horse engine projecting to rear
(its walls have been rebuilt with C20 concrete blocks). The main roof is hipped.
The barn is mostly open to the roof of the C19 A-frame trusses but there is an apple
loft and a C19 cider press.

Listing NGR: SY0352898710

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26390372

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

• 
  Georgian Style and Design for Contemporary Living
• 
  Department for Communities Listed Historic Buildings of Northern Ireland: Information Guide for the 2nd Survey of Historic Buildings
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Handbook 2 Books Bundle Collection (Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair,Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability)
• 
  Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey