Rowland's Farm House, and Attached Outbuildings Around Courtyard on North Side, Including Well

Details

ASHILL CP -
ST31NW
2/14 Rowland's Farm House, and
attached outbuildings around
courtyard on north side,
including well
4.2.58
II*

Farmhouse. Late C15-early C16, remodelled in late C16, minor alterations since. Ham stone, some ashlar, some roughly
cut and squared with ashlar dressings; double Roman clay tiled roof between high stepped coped gables suggesting former
thatch; ashlar chimney stacks with moulded caps. 'U'-plan; 2 storeys with attics, south elevation of 5 bays. Plinth to
all but last bay, eaves course, angled south-west corner buttress and bay buttresses: hollow-chamfer mullioned windows
with 4-centre-arched lights and incised spandrels under flat heads with labels; the ashlar bay I has 4-light windows at
both levels in chamfered recesses, with square-stop labels; to bay 2 a 4-light tall mullioned and transomed window in
hollowed recess, and to bay 3 a matching window set to same height but with higher cill and no transome; to bay 5 are
4-light windows at both levels, apparently restored in C20: bay 4 has a projecting 2-storey porch with angled corner
buttresses and coped gable, a 4-light window with label above; and below a 4-centre arched open roll-and wavemoulded
archway without label, and inside bench seats and a chamfered inner doorway; with blocked single- light windows in
returns to first floor level: dormer windows in roof over bays 2, 3 and 5. The east elevation, the closed end of
courtyard, quite plain: the west main gable has a short return, and in this and the lower part of main gable are
12-light sash windows of early pattern, with thick glazing bars, the south pair having moulded hoods; the centre window
at first floor level a 2-light rectangular-leaded casement under hoodmould. Rear elevation of main block to satch, with
the link wing northwards to bay 1, then a small projection, presumably for stair, with simple mezzanine window;
opposite the porch a 4-centre-arched doorway, with 2-light window and an attic dormer above; to bays 3 and 4 are
4-light windows set at mezzanine level, with heraldic glass, and between them a proudstanding chimney stack, then a
slight projection with plain rectangular windows, the upper barred, and in short return wing two 2-light mullioned
windows and a 4-centre-arched doorway. The west elevation of the closing wing has a simple 2-light window above, and
wide boarded door in heavy frame under timber lintel below, with a re-set 2-part stairlight and a casement window
alongside. Interior not seen, but reported is a cross-passage and hall plan with alterations and additions mostly made
before c1750. The hall has a late C16 timber screen, chamfered cambered-arched fireplace, the plastered ceiling has
sections of a decorated plaster frieze, and above the fireplace, also in plaster, the arms of Elizabeth I, The inner
room has a 6-panel ceiling, each panel originally subdivided into 4 more; the walls partly rebuilt apparently before
1750, the stairway off modern, but replacing an earlier stair. The west kitchen has a 4-panel ceiling, and nearby an
adapted newel staircase, The link wing at the east end of the courtyard has deep-chamfered heals with step and runout
stops, with a clumsy connection at first floor level. The wing to the north of the courtyard may represent an earlier
house: the south wall, much restored, retains one early timber-framed window, and a blocked doorway into the east link
wing; the north wall has two more early timber windows. The roof frame of this wing has 4 jointed cruck trusses, with
some timbers smoke-blackened; there are some traces of windbraces, including one surviving fragment, and there is also
a timber-framed gable end. House restored by Raywand Erith in the mid 1970s. (VAG Reports, SRO unpublished, December
1972, February 1973 and January 1980).


Listing NGR: ST3431716361

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

263893

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Vernacular Architecture Group Report in December, (1972)
Vernacular Architecture Group Report in February, (1973)
Vernacular Architecture Group Report in January, (1984)

End of official list entry

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