Details
CALNE WITHOUT
1642/6/35 CALSTONE WELLINGTON
31-JUL-1986 CALSTONE HOUSE
(Formerly listed as:
CALSTONE WELLINGTON
EAST FARMHOUSE)
II
DESCRIPTION
House, formerly a farmhouse. Rubble stone, ashlar, and brick, with Bridgewater tiled hipped roofs, and brick stacks. The principal, E range is thought to be C17 with C18 remodelling; there are additions of the early and later C19. Of 2 storeys, the rectangular principal range lies on a N-S axis, with a second range running westwards, and further small additions.
EXTERIOR: The E front of the principal range has a central door opening with a frame of beaded ashlar, now containing a glazed door; there is a C19 porch. There are 5 window openings with similar beaded frames to the first floor, all containing sashes, and a larger opening on the ground floor to S. The large canted bay window to N is a mid-C19 insertion; the timber porch is also C19. The S elevation of this range is blank; the N elevation has an external stone stack with a brick shaft. Extending westwards from the northern part of this range is another large range, in 2 sections, the eastern section being of red brick, laid to English bond, and the later western section being of coursed stone with brick dressings. The eastern section has segmental-headed windows, irregularly placed, on the N front, and similar openings to S, where a former doorway has been blocked. The western section of the N range is obscured on the N front by an altered and rendered extension. An addition of the later C19, of stone with brick dressings and probably contemporary with the W end of the N range, is built into the corner between the eastern and northern ranges. The S elevation of this section is dominated by a projecting brick stack which rises from the right-hand bay, with a first-floor segmental-headed window surmounted by a gable to left.
INTERIOR: The E range is of single-room depth, with each storey containing two rooms. On the ground floor the northern room has been extended to take in the former front door, part of the northern wall of the former stair passage having been removed. In the southern room are exposed chamfered ceiling beams. In the eastern section of the western range is a large open fireplace, much altered, with a chamfered bressumer resting on exposed stone piers; there is a daisy-wheel incised in the stone. In the NW corner of this range, stone steps lead to a cellar. A modern staircase has been inserted in this corner. The western section of this range retains no early features. The building's southern addition houses the hall, with small anterooms. The roof structures of both main ranges have been replaced.
HISTORY
A farm relating to this site, connected with the estate of Calstone Wylye, is first mentioned in 1575. In the C17 the farm was known as Page's Farm, but by 1728 the name had been changed to East Farm, a modest farm of 163 acres. The earliest known map, dating from 1773, shows development on the unnamed site of the farmstead. The acreage of the farm changed little during the C19; in the late C19 and early C20 East Farm was worked together with Manor Farm, which lies to the west. East Farm is clearly shown on the 1st edition Ordnance Survey map, published in 1886, since which time the outline of the house has remained largely the same, with only minor alterations. A group of farm buildings formerly standing to the north and west of the house were demolished in the late C20, when the site ceased to function as a farm; a late-C18 or early-C19 stable block, much altered, remains to the north-west. The name of the farmhouse was subsequently changed from East Farmhouse to Calstone House. A stone with a triangular moulding enclosing the inscription '1607 / WT', discovered in close proximity to the house in 1994, may be related to the site.
SOURCES
OS maps published 1884, 1900, 1924, 1936
Notes compiled by Mrs P. M. Slocombe of the Wiltshire Buildings Record (1993-4)
Victoria County History, Vol 117 (2002), pp. 123-35
Wiltshire Record Office, Accession 1409/138 - sales particulars (1954)
REASONS FOR DESIGNATION
* Date: as a farmhouse thought to have been developed between the C17 and late C19
* Exterior: for the east front, refenestrated in the C18; this elevation retains some early sash frames and a C19 timber porch
* Interior: the building retains some original features internally, including chamfered beams and flagstone floors
