SPICE'S FARMHOUSE

Overview

Location

Details

TL 72 NW WETHERSFIELD ROTTEN END (west side)

3/201 Spice's Farmhouse, (formerly listed as 21.12.67 Spicer's) GV II*

House. C.140O, altered in C16 and C17. Timber framed, plastered, roofed with handmade red clay tiles. 2-bay hall facing SE with C16 internal stack in left bay, off centre. 2-bay parlour/solar crosswing to right, service end missing. Mid-C16 2-bay extension to right, canting forward to form an obtuse angle with the earlier part. Early C17 extension to rear of this junction, and C18/C19 single-storey lean-to extension in right rear angle, much altered in C20. Hall block and early C17 rear extension of one storey with attics, remainder of 2 storeys. Ground floor, 4 C20 casements. First floor, 2 C20 casements and another in gabled dormer. C20 door in gabled porch in right return wall. In the left return wall the original twin service doorways with 3-centred arched heads have been converted into C20 arched windows. The hall has jowled posts, a blocked original front doorway with 3-centred arched head, edge-halved and bridled scarfs in wallplates, crownpost roof with cross-quadrate crownpost and steep arched bracing of thick section. The inserted stack leaves the original cross-entry unobstructed; the lower part has been rebuilt in C18 brick, the upper part is C16. The central tiebeam has been severed and a splint added above it, shaped to form the Tudor head of a former fireplace. A smaller Tudor head has been cut in the soffit of the tiebeam for some purpose unknown, possibly for a former stair beside the stack. The mid-C16 inserted floor has moulded axial and transverse beams and moulded joists, all with foliate carved stops. The crosswing has an underbuilt jetty at the front, jowled posts, close studding, diamond mortices and shutter grooves for unglazed windows at front, rear and right side, and a crownpost roof with original hip at rear, of which the central tiebeam, crownpost and collar-purlin are missing. The right extension has jowled posts, close studding, a chamfered axial beam, plain joists of horizontal section jointed at the angle formed by the plan, and a crownpost roof with thin axial braces. Large wood-burning hearths back to back. The early brick floor is a notable feature. The early C17 rear wing has an oak panelled door of appropriate date, though probably introduced, and a clasped purlin roof. This building development demonstrates the agricultural prosperity of the C16, the enlargement of the 'high end' accommodation which is typical of the period, and the equivalent decline of the 'low end' accommodation. RCHM 10.

Listing NGR: TL7300829379

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

115713

Legacy System:

LBS

Legal

This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.