Details
TQ 67 41 BRENCHLEY HIGH STREET, BRENCHLEY
(east end)
15/97 Town Farm Cottage, Terry's
20.10.54 and Town Farmhouse (formerly
GV listed as The Butchers Shop)
II*
2 houses and a shop, originally one building. Probably late C15/early C16
with 2 phases of construction. Close-studded framing, partly underbuilt in
brick, partly tile-hung and partly weatherboarded. Peg-tile roof; brick
stacks.
Plan: The plan form suggets a semi-public or non-domestic function of some
kind. The 5-bay main range faces west, at the east end of the High Street.
The building is evidently of high status but has no obvious evidence of an
original stack or smoke bay. There is an inserted axial stack to left of
centre with a high quality C16 fireplace heating the main room, which has been
re-partitioned to accommodate a shop in the centre and a cross passage
entrance to Town Farmhouse, but which may have been one large room originally
although the evidence is not clear. Smaller heated room to the left, perhaps
originally unheated. The axial stack has 2 high quality first floor
fireplaces. Doorway to right of centre into a later cross passage, doorway
possibly re-sited when the shop front was put in. The rear right (south east)
wing, which is secondary but no later than the mid C16, is 4 bays and was
probably one long room originally, the fourth bay is a smoke bay although it
is not clear whether it served the long room or another room to the rear
(east) where there is now an outshut. An axial stack with back-to-back
fireplaces was inserted into the wing which is now 2 rooms on plan with a
stair rising against the wall at the junction with the main range. It is
possible that the main range was heated by a rear lateral stack which no
longer exists, although no evidence of this was found on survey (1989). There
are some similarities between this building and the Old Vicarage (q.v.)
closeby, which is also L-plan with no evidence of an original stck.
Exterior: 2 storeys. Town Farm Cottage to the left, shop front in the
centre, Town Farmhouse to the right. Asymmetrical 4-window west front, the
roof hipped at ends, the axial stack with staggered shafts with a corbelled
brick cornice. The first floor is jettied with deep eaves supported on
chamfered brackets. The close-studded framing is well-preserved and includes
evidence of original blocked windows in the frame on the first and ground
floor. To the right of centre a fine circa early C16 Tudor arched moulded
doorframe to Town Farmhouse with a C19 door, the top panels glazed. Circa
late C19 shop window and door alongside to the left. C19 panelled door to
Town Farm Cottage at the extreme left. 2 3-light casements on the ground
floor alongside and right of the 2 front doors, 4 first floor casement
windows. These are a mixture of dates, with leaded panes. First floor window
left retains C17 or C18 old glass and a sprung catch. The right return of the
main block is tile hung to the footings. Beyond it, the wing is
weatherboarded on the ground floor, tile-hung above. The axial stack has
staggered shafts. C20 casement windows. The left return is brick to the
ground floor, tile-hung above. The rear elevation of the main block preserves
most of its wall-framing intact. C18 door with fielded panels to the shop.
The first floor has 2 blocked original windows. Outshut at north end of the
rear. The inner (north) return of the wing (Town Farmhouse) is 4 windows, and
retains its original framing including original blocked windows on the first
floor and an C18 mullioned ground floor window with bead-moulded mullions and
diamond leaded panes.
Interior: Rich in carpentry and other features. Town Farmhouse is very
unspoiled. The main block preserves a very fine early C16 fireplace on the
south side of the axial stack (in Town Farm Cottage). This has a moulded oak
lintel and moulded stone jambs with a modern partition about 1.5 metres in
front of it. The small room to the left (north) has a rebuilt fireplace, a
chamfered step-stopped crossbeam with short curved braces and chamfered step-
stopped joists. The ceiling carpentry in the shop is concealed behind a later
ceiling. The right end of the main block (Town Farmhouse) has a chamfered
step-stopped axial beam and closely-spaced joists of large scantling with
evidence of a former stair at the right end. On the first floor the axial
stack has a good moulded fireplace above the one on the ground floor (Town
Farm Cottage). The first floor room to the left of the range (Town Farm
Cottage) also has a good fireplace with a hollow-chamfered lintel and moulded
stone jambs, but this is sited on the return (west) face of the stack and has
probably been re-sited there. It may originally have been back-to-back with
the other first floor fireplace. The first floor of Town Farm Cottage has
been re-partitioned, but the original arrangement of rooms is still evident.
The tie beams have short curved braces (some missing). A blocked rear window
preserves sockets for diagonally-set mullions and a shutter groove. The rear
wing (Town Farmhouse) has a ceiling of intersecting step-stopped beams, with
exposed joists interrupted by the inserted stack, which has a good open
fireplace with brick jambs and an oak lintel in the western of the 2 principal
rooms. C16 doors survive, both into the cross passage and an external door on
the south side. The joists in the eastern of the two main rooms are plastered
over and there is a small fireplace, possibly concealing earlier jambs and a
lintel. The smoke bay at the east end of the main block is accessible from
the lean-to at the end of the wing. A stair has been built inside it and it
preserves heavily sooted walls from the bottom of the bay up to the apex of
the roof. There is evidence of an early partition on the west side of the bay
and the beam on the east side is chamfered and step-stopped: it must either be
a re-used timber or the bay was originally used from the lean-to side. The
first floor above the eastern of the 2 rooms is used for storage and is open
to the apex of the roof. The other first floor rooms in Town Farmhouse (which
include the first floor of the main range over the shop) retain exposed
ceiling beams, old wall plaster and joinery. The internal wall-framing is
well-preserved with flared jowls to the wallposts throughout the building and
some internal tension braces.
Roof: Both the main range and the wing have crown post roofs, with no
evidence of smoke blackening. The main range roof has plain posts with ogival
down- braces to the ties and up-braces to the collar purlin, the post to right
of centre chamfered with step-stops. The axial stack has interrupted the
collars of the rafter couples and is clearly an insertion. The wing crown
posts are all plain with 2 braces to the tie beams and 2 to the collar purlin,
which has been truncated to accommodate the inserted stack. A piece of
machinery, some kind of hopper of unknown function, is fixed to the southern
crown post of the main range.
This is an extremely interesting framed building of high status, well-
preserved internally and externally.
Listing NGR: TQ6798341776
