Sharlowes Farm House

Details

FLAUNDEN FLAUNDEN TL 0100 (North side) 11/109 Sharlowes Farm House 26.1.67 (formerly listed as Sharlowes farmhouse)

GV II*

Farmhouse, now a private house. Circa 1500 open hall house with 2 cross wings, E parlour wing rebuilt later C16, mid C17 floor and chimney inserted in hall, brick casing in later C18 ('1768' cut into front of hall range), W wing cased and extended to rear in C19, S room of E wing extended to E and rear part of E wall rebuilt in C20. Timber frame cased in red brick, with diaper pattern in blue headers to hall range. Steep old red tile roofs. A U-plan medieval house facing S with a 1½ storeys former open hall flanked by 2-storeys gabled wings projecting to rear. Set back from road. S front has 3 windows and entrance at lower (W) end of hall range into wide S cross-passage with former axially divided service rooms in 2-bays opening on W, and C19 replacement of stair inserted with C17 chimney backing onto cross-passage. 3-light C18 casement windows with small rectangular leaded panes and iron opening frames, and segmental brick arches. Gabled dormer rises through eaves in middle. Small 2-light leaded casement window over door. C18 doorway with flat hood reset in C20 lean-to porch with 6-panel door. Large external red brick chimney at W end. Small brick extension at E end with French doors. Interior preserves frame of an open hall of 2 unequal bays, smoke blackened most in W bay, with a chamfered arched- braced-collar central truss to clasped-purlin roof with arched wind- braces. Wide cross-passage to W with 2 doors into 2-bays, 2 storeys W service cross-wing. This has jowled posts, clasped-purlin roof, curved wind-braces, cambered tie-beam on curved braces, collar and king-strut trusses, and wide spaced storey-height studs in walls. E parlour cross-wing has lower floor and ceiling levels and heavy 3-bays timber frame exposed externally to E and NE. Jowled posts, cambered tie-beams, straight tension braces, clasped-purlin roof with curved wind-braces. The wing is divided into 2 rooms on each floor with a cellar under the N end. Fragments of wall painting in both 1st floor rooms (N room monochrome allegorical figure and frieze inscription: S room less elaborate (E Clive Rouse suggests 1575 - 1590 for paintings (RCHM Typescript)). Insertion of floor in hall and chimney with new stair behind replacing separate stairs in each wing is dateable to mid C17 by stepped cyma stop to deep chamfered beam in hall. Brick chimneys serving the E crosswing probably date from its rebuilding. W external chimney of C17 or early C18 and presumably predates the mid C18 panelled room created in the SW room which has a pointed arched recessed cupboard with shaped shelves set in the old chimney,moulded dado rail and ovolo moulded panelling. A good late C17 bolection moulded firesurround re-used in N extension to W wing. Folding ovolo moulded panelled shutters inside window in hall. E wing front room has grooves for vertically sliding internal shutters to be stored below cill level of 3-light C18 casement window. Rear upper room of E wing has C18 moulded plaster ceiling cornice and 2-panes raised and fielded door. (Pevsner(1977)143: RCHM Typescript).

Listing NGR: TL0155100876

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

157636

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Pevsner, N, Cherry, B, The Buildings of England: Hertfordshire, (1977), 143

End of official list entry

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