Summary
House, late C17, with C18, C19 and C20 alterations and additions.
Reasons for Designation
Roche Old Court is listed at Grade II* for the following principal reasons:
Architectural interest:
* as an example of an unusually high-status late C17 farmhouse that is characteristic of the domestic architectural style of the period;
* for the preservation of its principal facades with original window detailing combined with good quality craftsmanship in its stone masonry and brickwork;
* for the survival of a significant proportion of its late C17 fixtures and fittings that are characteristic of the period and exhibit a high degree of quality with features of note including the survival of large-square panelling to the rooms to the rear wing and the first-floor bedrooms, and the dog leg staircase with turned balusters;
* for its late C17 roof structure with knee principal rafters, a distinctive feature of late C17 or early C18 roofs particularly where both deeply overhanging eaves and spacious attic accommodation are architectural features;
* for the legibility of its late C17 L-shaped plan form, and the subsequent evolution of the house to include a dairy in the C18.
Historic interest:
* as the principal building in the farmstead group, that by the early C19 formed part of the new Roche Court (Grade II*) estate of Francis Thomas Egerton Esq;
* for its contribution to our understanding of the development of late C17 architecture and domestic arrangements.
Group value:
* with the contemporary Barn at Roche Old Court (Grade II*) and the C18 stables and cartshed (Grade II);
* with Roche Court (Grade II*).
History
Roche Old Court, an unusually high-status farmhouse, appears to have been built in the late C17 as the principal house of a post-medieval farmstead. The farmstead is shown on Andrews’ and Dury’s map of Wiltshire, 1773 and 1810, where it is labelled as ‘Eyston Farm’. In about 1809, a new manor house, Roche Court, was built to the east of Easton Farm for Francis Thomas Egerton Esq., and replaced the manor house to the south which was on the site of what is currently known as Hills Farm. An estate map for Roche Court, dated 1820, includes Easton Farm, and the tithe map for Winterslow (1840) goes on to identify Easton Farm as ‘Roche Court Farm House and Gardens’. A subsequent lease dated 1860 between Francis Thomas Egerton and the tenant of the farm identifies the farmstead as ‘Easton Farm otherwise Roche Court Farm’ making it clear that Easton Farm and Roche Court Farm are the same site. The name Roche Old Court appears to have come into use in the 1930s and was based on a mistaken assertion that the house was the original manor house for East Winterslow and that the ancillary range to the south-east end was a mid-C16 open hall.
The house was extended to the rear in the C18 with the addition of an outshut to provide service rooms, probably a dairy. This appears to have coincided with the relocation of the entrance door from the south-west elevation to the north-west elevation. There have been alterations in the C19 and C20, including the insertion of the chimney stack and panelling into the former entrance hall, the remodelling of the principal reception room in a neo-Classical style, and the removal of a lead hopper head with the inscription ‘I.F.I. 1731’.
The ancillary range to the south-east end of the house is of uncertain date and function, although it was probably added in the early C19 and had a service use. It seems to be labelled as a well house on the 1901 Ordnance Survey map, and it does incorporate a well, but the label may also have applied to the detached building that was located to the rear of this range and has since been demolished.
Details
House, late C17, with C18, C19 and C20 alterations and additions.
MATERIALS: the house is built of brick laid in English bond with stone quoins and dressings; the outshut to the rear is built of brick laid in Flemish bond. The roofs are covered in plain tiles.
PLAN: originally an L-shaped plan, with an interconnected three-room range facing south-west and a rear wing with an additional room and the staircase. A rear outshut was added in the C18 to provide service rooms and created a spine corridor between it and the original rear extent of the house.
EXTERIOR: two-storey house with attic and cellar. The principal elevation (south-west) is arranged as six bays beneath a hipped roof with an overhanging timber eaves cornice, a high plinth with a moulded offset, a stone plat band, and stone quoins. The two-light stone mullion windows have hollow chamfered mullions and leaded lights, with a course of vertically set brick headers above the first-floor windows. The ground floor window to the fourth bay is a later insertion replacing the original entrance door. To the first two bays are two chamfered stone lights to the cellar, and to the attic are two raking dormer windows. The end stacks are of brick with that to the south-east end having brick offsets. The ridge stack between the fourth and fifth bay is a later insertion.
The architectural detailing is continued to the rear wing and the north-west elevation is arranged as four unequal bays, with single light windows with leaded lights in stone surrounds; those to either side of the chimney stack have been blocked, although those to the first floor retain their stone surrounds. There is an inserted C18 doorway to the second bay, and a quoin to this elevation is understood to include the graffiti ‘WM 1747’. There is a further external stack to the north-east elevation, with the three stair windows to the left.
To the rear elevation of the principal range is a dormer window with the roof extending to form a catslide roof over the C18 outshut which retains an C18 pegged timber-framed window with diamond mullions and intermediated vertical bars.
INTERIOR: the three first-floor bedrooms in the principal range, as well as the ground and first-floor room in the rear wing have late C17 large-square panelling with bolection moulding, with the rooms to the rear wing also having bolection moulded fireplaces and two-panel doors. The principal reception room also retains some late C17 panelling although most is small-square panelling of the C19 that is also repeated to the former entrance hall. The former kitchen retains its open fireplace with chamfered timber bressumer and a recessed seat of curved timber on a brick base, as well as its spit rack and a C17 plank door to the left with butterfly hinges. The late C17 dogleg staircase to the rear wing has turned, vase-shaped, balusters with the balustrade and handrail crossing the closed string at the junction. The square newel posts have ball pendants, but the finials appear to have been removed. Other features of note include chamfered axial and cross axial ceiling beams, panelled and plank and batten doors with associated door furniture, C17 and C18 fitted shelves, and C19 fireplaces. The late C17 roof comprises collar trusses with knee principals and common rafters.
Attached to the south-east end of the house is a single-storey two-bay ancillary range. The principal elevation is of brick laid in Flemish bond with an inserted Gothic Revival window with ogee-heads. The rear elevation is of square-panel timber framing with brick nogging and timber mullion windows. The roof which forms a catslide to the south-east end, where there is a tall brick stack, is covered in plain tiles. The interior is open to the roof which consists of butt purlin collar and tie beam trusses with vertical struts. The mortice holes to the underside of the central tie beam suggests that there may have been a dividing wall, although this and the other roof timbers show evidence of being reused. To the north-west end is a Gothic Revival style fireplace and to the south east end an additional open fireplace and an open brick well. The floor is of brick and stone.
