Fosters Farmhouse

Details

TQ 54 SE BIDBOROUGH UPPER HAYESDEN

4/29 Fosters Farmhouse

GV II

Farmhouse. Probably late C15 in origin, partly remodelled in the circa early/mid C16, and again in the early C17. Circa early C18 addition. Framed construction, originally on a stone plinth, the ground floor underbuilt in brick, the first floor tile-hung; peg-tile roof; brick stacks.

Plan and Development: Complex evolution. Overall T plan, the main range facing west with a rear wing at right angles. The main range was originally 2 cells and smoke-blackening in the roofspace suggests that the north cell was an open hall, probably late C15 in origin. In the circa mid C16 the hall was floored with a smoke bay introduced at the north end, probably with an adjacent stair to the east. There may have been a cross passage entrance to the medieval house within the lower end (south) cell. In the circa early C17 the smoke bay was floored and replaced with an axial stack introduced into the putative cross passage with back-to-back fireplaces heating both rooms and a lobby entrance facing the stack. The north room became the kitchen with a parlour to the south. The existing stair, in the north east corner of the north room, probably dates from this phase and the rear service wing may be part of the same programme of improvement. The house was extended in the circa early C18 with a one-room plan addition under a roofline at the north end heated by a left end stack. This was probably the kitchen, upgrading the C17 kitchen to a second parlour.

Exterior: 2 storeys. Symmetrical 3-bay west front to the main range plus one bay to the lower-roofed addition at the left end. The main range has a ragstone plinth and steps up to a central C19 plank door with a flat porch hood. Gabled roof; axial stack with staggered triple shafts with corbelled coping. Casement windows throughout with square leaded panes, the 4-light windows flanking the door have been re-glazed in the C20, the others, 2- and 3-light, are probably C18. There is a C20 conservatory addition at the south end with a doorway into the south room.

Interior: Rich in early carpentry. The left hand (north) room of the main range has an early/mid C16 step-stopped chamfered crossbeam with plain joists on the south side. On the north side of the crossbeam the joists are chamfered and belong to the circa early C17 phase of flooring over the smoke bay. A C17 oak stair with a co-eval plank door rises in the north east corner of the room. Redundant mortises in the ceiling beams suggest that it is on the site of an earlier stair associated with the smoke bay phase. There are 2 blocked doorways in the framing on the rear wall. The C17 fireplace has ragstone jambs and an original oak lintel. A bake oven opening survives in the left hand jamb and there are 2 keeping places, one formerly with a door, in the fireback. The right hand (south) room also preserves its original fireplace, similar to that in the parlour. The soffit of the massive crossbeam has been dressed off except at the east end where it is chamfered with big bar stops. This detail in conjunction with evidence in the roofspace suggests that the south end of the house may have been largely rebuilt in the C17 phase. Exposed joists also survive. The ceiling is coved in front of the fireplace to support the chamber above. The first floor rooms in the main range preserve their exposed ceiling beams.

Roof: The north end wall of the original house is plastered in a pattern of whorls and is heavily sooted. A closed partition just north of the inserted stack is similarly plastered and sooted. Presumably this represents the length of the original open hall of the medieval phase. The rafters of the clasped purlin queen post roof between are not evenly smoke-blackened but there has been considerable repair to the roof including an added ridgeboard and new timber scarfed into the old. The smoke bay is marked by a tie between the purlins. The framing below the tie has been removed and the smoke bay partition never rose to the apex of the roof but stopped at the level of the tie which is heavily sooted on the north side but clean on the south side. On either side of the stack and south of it the roof is largely constructed of re-used timbers, some sooted, others with redundant mortises.

Group value with the threshing barn to the south west.

A very unspoiled traditional farmhouse with a long building history.

Listing NGR: TQ5613244755

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

430789

Legacy System:

LBS

End of official list entry

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