History

A late medieval cruck-framed hall house retaining an arched-brace truss suggesting a 2-bay hall and therefore a house of gentry status. It was converted to a storeyed house in the mid C17 when the fireplace, upper floor and stair were inserted. Alterations in the C19 include the present fenestration, its dairy and a short rear wing.

Exterior

A 1½-storey 3-window house of rubble stone, cement-rendered to the front and L gable end, graded-slate roof behind a coped gable to the R, with a central stone square stack, and a rendered square stack to the L. Openings are mainly late C19. A recessed panel door is to the L of centre beneath a simple slate hood, and is flanked by 4-pane horned sash windows and a small casement window further R. Three gabled dormers have 4-pane horned sash windows. The R gable end has a loft door. The L gable end has 4-pane sash windows, smaller to the attic, offset to the rear side.

In the 3-window rear is a 1-storey wing to the R with sash window and half-glazed door. Hall and inner room each have an inserted 2-light small-pane casement window. To the R of centre is a small stair window.

Interior

The house has a 3-unit plan. The entrance has a residual cross passage, with rear doorway, now opening to the rear wing, opposite the front doorway. The L-hand room retains a cross beam with run-out stop. The hall to the R has a joist-beam ceiling whose spine beam has fillet stops. The large fireplace has a timber lintel and to its R is a stone stair. Two former inner rooms are partitioned off by a C19 post-and-panel screen, of which the dairy on the L retains slate slabs. Two half cruck trusses remain visible. The central arched-brace truss is finely moulded and has a moulded boss, suggesting that it was the open truss of a 2-bay hall (any ornamentation above the arched brace is concealed by plaster). The second truss, in the inner rooms, is plainer and has a collar beam. The lower storey has a flagstone floor.

Reasons for Listing

Listed grade II* for its special architectural interest as a late medieval house showing evidence of changes over many centuries, although retaining its C17 plan and, with the listed farm buildings, forming part of a strong farm group retaining its historical integrity.

External Links

• Cadwr Listing
• Wikidata Q17741236

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

• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  For the Record
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Listed Buildings, Conservation Areas and Monuments
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  Harrow on the Hill: A photographic portrayal of listed buildings and structures (Historic Buildings Picture Guides)