Details
PICKERING
706/16/2 KELD HEAD
27-NOV-75 SPRING VIEW AND ASSOCIATED FARM BUILDI
NGS
(Formerly listed as:
KELD HEAD
SPRING VIEW FARMHOUSE)
II
Evolved longhouse with associated farm buildings. The house is probably C17 in origin with many later alterations, principally C18, but with some later in date. Farm buildings late C18 to early C19. Rubble stone with pan tile roofs.
FARMSTEAD LAYOUT
The house fronts onto the road to the south west and is the full width of the long narrow landholding which extends northwards. Immediately to the rear, on the east side is a small brick washhouse, to the west is the access to the farm yard. Just beyond, there is a two storey barn to the west facing a single storey outbuilding across the broad track that gives access to the cart shed/stable further to the north. This stable is orientated at right angles to the other farm buildings and forms the eastern end of a farm range belonging to the next door farm. Further to the north there is a metal framed Dutch barn that is not of special interest.
HOUSE
PLAN
Two storey, 3 bay longhouse with the former low end to the north west and a 2 bay house part beyond the cross passage. The rear entrance is covered by a modern porch which also gives access to a small, single storey lean-to. The south eastern ground floor bay is divided into a small parlour to the front and a narrow service room (possible dairy) to the rear. The middle bay incorporates a former smoke bay and has an inserted stair against the rear wall. The upper floor is divided by stud walls apart from the masonry wall supporting the central stack. These stud walls are generally single skin planked partitions which are probably relatively late in date.
EXTERIOR
The front elevation has unevenly distributed openings, all with exposed timber lintels. All windows have horizontal sliding sashes with single narrow transoms, mainly with original glazing. There are two small windows to the first floor, that to the right being 3 light / 6 pane, the other being square with 4 panes. The ground floor has 3 larger, square windows of 4 panes each. The door is 6 panelled, the upper two being glazed. The stonework is of several builds with a clear break to larger more regularly sized stonework immediately above the ground floor lintels showing that the building was originally single storey. The very bottom 2-3 courses of the elevation is also different, being much rougher stonework that appears to be the same build as the lower part of the south eastern gable - this may be the stone footings of an earlier cruck framed longhouse. There is a large area of rebuild on the ground floor of the westernmost bay shown by the use of larger, more yellow stonework - this stonework may be the blocking of a large opening into the former agricultural part of the building, but may also be a C20 repair following an impact from a vehicle. There is no evidence in the external stonework of a blocked fire window lighting the central hearth. The eaves line is formed by a stone cornice. The left gable is raised and coped with a shaped kneeler. The roof is covered in clay pan tiles. The 3 stacks (end stacks and a third ridge stack offset to the left of centre) are all modern rebuilds above the roof line. Cast iron rainwater goods.
The north west gable is not of special interest being a C20 rebuild with small inserted windows. The south east gable is at an angle respecting the plot boundary. It is blind but has interest as it is of several different builds.
The rear elevation is mainly covered by a later (probably C19) lean-to and an even later porch that covers the rear door of the cross passage. To the right there is an inserted first floor window which cuts the eaves line. This has a modern casement window of 4 panes. To the left there is a small ground floor window which is a horizontal sliding sash under a timber lintel. The stonework of the rear elevation is noticeably rougher than that to the front. It also shows a clear building break showing the addition of the upper floor and is topped by an eaves cornice in dressed stonework. The kneeler to the left is plain.
INTERIOR
The ground floor room to the north west of the cross passage has a planked door that retains a timber housed lock and original strap hinges. The ceiling joists are exposed and are plain chamfered.
The central ground floor room is stone flagged, although about half of the floor is likely to be of C20 replacement flags. These flagstones are poorly matched to the earlier flagstones. The exposed ceiling joists have roll mouldings and there is disturbance to the joists around the entrance suggestive of a former ladder stair position. The room includes a former smoke bay backing onto the cross passage, however the bressummer beam has been sawn through and removed from across the former inglenook, but survives between a brick pier and the north east wall of the house. This beam was probably removed in the C18 with the insertion of the large fireplace with its simply dressed stone jambs and lintel. To the right of the fire place there is a small salt box formed in the wall thickness, with a much larger built in cupboard to the left. This cupboard has a planked door on butterfly hinges which is probably also C18. The door to the cross passage is planked and hung on strap hinges. To its right, in the north east wall, there is an opening with a timber lintel. This is possibly a blocked window but it is more likely to be a former cupboard. Against the north east wall of the room is an inserted staircase that is boxed in with relatively modern wood planking, but includes an C18 or early C19 planked door on modern strap hinges.
The south eastern bay is divided into two with an inserted brick wall of C18 style bricks with a larger room (an inner parlour) to the south and a narrow service room or dairy to the north. At the time of the site inspection the plaster from the inserted wall had been removed to show that it was of more than one build. The southern room has another planked door on original strap hinges as well as a large built in cupboard with a planked door on butterfly hinges. The fireplace has been reduced in size with brickwork to take a mid C19 style grate, however the grate was missing at the time of the inspection.
On the upper floor, the central room includes the irregularly shaped chimney stack serving the central hearth on the ground floor. The irregularity implies that this incorporates at least part of an earlier smokehood. The cross wall supporting this stack is masonry, but includes at least some timberwork which was exposed at the time of the site inspection. The other partitions on the upper floor are of timber and are likely to be late C19 or later. However one of the doors upstairs is clearly reused and is likely to be much earlier being of 3 broad planks hung on early strap hinges.
The roof structure is simple with a ridge beam clasped by a couple of principal rafters and supported by the central cross and gable walls. These timbers, along with the common rafters, are generally riven rather than sawn, but are supplemented by modern sawn timbers.
There are further features that contribute to the special interest of the building such as areas of mud and horsehair plaster. There are also likely to be more features of interest that were not recognised at the time of the inspection or which were concealed by later alterations.
BARN
Two storey, 3 bay barn with a quioned southern gable and a lean to butted up against the northern gable. The barn has opposed, narrow doorways in the northern bay with a window to the right of the eastern door. The rest of the ground floor is blind apart from arrow slit ventilation openings. There are two upper pitching windows, one central to the southern gable, the other in the eastern wall. Principal openings have exposed timber lintels. The roof structure is of particular interest as it is traditionally jointed and pegged with 2 simple trusses that utilise a pair of former cruck blades as tie beams. The lean-to to the north includes a couple of concrete stalls that are not of special interest. The roof line has also been altered with the use of modern concrete block work.
STABLE/CART SHED
Two bay 2 storey building that abuts a range of farm buildings of the next door property to the left (north west). The stable, to the left, has a door with a 4 pane rectangular fanlight with a window to the left that has a three pane upper portion above a slatted ventilator. Above the door there is a pitching window. The cart shed opening is undivided and has a timber lintel. Above there is a small window with an exposed timber lintel. In the gable end there is an upper taking-in door. The north eastern side of the building is blind.
Internally the stable retains a cobbled floor, and is divided into two stalls by a timber stall partition, each retaining a hay rack and manger. Some of the floor joists above have roll mouldings similar to those found in the house. The cart shed has a couple of niches built into the walls. The upper floor is divided by a brick wall, mainly, but not entirely, of slim hand made bricks. The roof of the stable half of the building incorporates a mid C19 king post truss and is of sawn timber, the other half of the building incorporates some riven timber in its roof structure.
OUTBUILDING
Single storey, single celled building with a cobbled floor, doorway in the western wall with a broad planked door (possibly re-used from the house), a bricked up doorway in the southern gable and a small ventilation slit in the northern gable. The abutting modern block work outbuilding is not of special interest.
WASH HOUSE
Mid to late C19 wash house built of wire cut bricks beneath a pantiled roof. It retains an in situ copper with its fire grate beneath, although the flue is missing. The toilet is a later alteration.
HISTORY
The house is clearly an improved longhouse and as such it is likely to be C17 in origin although it may date to as late as the early C18. The very rough lowest courses to the house and the re-used cruck blades in the barn suggest that the house was originally cruck framed. Further stonework in the front elevation shows that it was originally single storey, but was raised to two storeys, probably in the C18 judging by the moulded stone eaves cornice and the kneelers to the south eastern gable. The rear lean-to is likely to be C19. The farm buildings to the rear are likely to be late C18 or early C19 in date, possibly around 1790 when a proportion of Pickering's agricultural land was rationalised by parliamentary enclosure. However, they were probably not all built at the same time and (along with the house) they may have originally been part of the neighbouring farm to the west.
REASON FOR DESIGNATION
Spring View and its associated farm buildings are designated for the following principal reasons:
* The house is a good, well preserved example of a long house that is probably pre-1700 in origin and has evolved into its current form mainly in the C18, retaining considerable evidence of that evolution in the surviving structure.
* For retaining many features of interest, especially internally on the ground floor, such as early joinery and ironmongery.
* As a surviving, well preserved example of a small evolved farmstead, with buildings dating to the late C18 to early C19 that retain features that often no longer survive on farms that have been more intensively used in the C20.
