Summary
Early to mid-C17 house, possibly with an earlier core, altered and extended, certainly in the later C18 and c1840, and refurbished in the 1960s and in 2010.
Reasons for Designation
Old Brewery House, an early to mid-C17 house, possibly with an earlier core, altered and extended, certainly in the later C18 and c1840, and refurbished in the 1960s and in 2010, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Architectural interest: the evolution of a vernacular, probably lobby entry plan house, later part of a C19 brewery complex, is evident in the plan and fabric;
* Materials: the use of local materials including clunch and brick which is dated and initialled;
* Fixtures and fittings: an assemblage of unusually complete casement windows, their fixtures and fittings;
* Historic interest: a site with a long occupation, and its transition from a farm to a C19 rural brewery.
History
The core of the building predominantly dates from the early to mid-C17, related documents surviving from c1700. The southern section has the date 1777 and the initials WJ inscribed in the brickwork, perhaps the date of a rebuilding or of repairs to the southern bay. By about 1840 the building had been incorporated in Froyle Brewery; William Messenger was recorded as maltster in 1851 and brewer and maltster in 1861, before facing bankruptcy in 1866. The 1:2,500 Ordnance Survey maps from 1870 and 1896 show a distinct break between the central section and northern section which was part of a range of substantial buildings extending to the north and against the northern boundary.
Until the 1960s the building was subdivided into multiple tenements, acquiring inserted entrances and stairs, before it was refurbished and reverted to a single dwelling. In November 1997 it was subject of a survey by the Domestic Buildings Research Group, Surrey (Report 4554) and in 2010 of a brief report by Forum Heritage Services, specialists in historic buildings, to inform a programme of refurbishment. During the works the building was stripped back to expose the original brick frontage, which was restored. The northern section, which was in a particularly bad state of repair, was reordered internally, new stairs were inserted, and the roof was rebuilt; dilapidated structures attached to the north-east of the building were demolished and replaced with a new single-storey kitchen.
To the rear, the boundary wall of the brewery survives as the garden boundary, but the brewery buildings, which were on an industrial scale, have been demolished.
Details
Early to mid-C17 house, possibly with an earlier core, altered and extended, certainly in the later C18 and c1840, refurbished in the 1960s and c 2010.
MATERIALS: externally, the main range of the building is in three distinct phases separated by straight joints in the external fabric. The north section is predominantly in red brick with timber lacing, the south section in brick, the inner section in coursed clunch blocks with red brick dressings, the eaves level raised in red brick. The building has plain tiled roofs, the cladding replaced c 2010, replicating the previous roofs.
PLAN: the building appears to be a C17 lobby entry plan house although it may incorporate elements of an earlier building; the main range is in two storeys. The later, northern section, which has a lower ridge, is in two bays but the structure of the north-west gable wall suggests that this was originally a lateral rather than end wall. This northern bay is also shallower, the roof extending over the new rear wall. Attached structures related to the brewery have been demolished.
The central and southern sections are in three structural bays with a large internal stack between the central and southern section, blocked entrances suggesting a lobby entry plan. A truss of an earlier roof structure suggests either that it remains from a previous building or that the roof was substantially rebuilt. The southern section appears to have been rebuilt or refaced in the C18 and has a half-hipped roof to the south. Originally of one-and-a-half storeys, the core bays were raised to two full storeys in the late C18.
At right angles to it is a range of service buildings, including a former domestic brewhouse and bakehouse, extending from a lower one-and-a-half storey rear wing with a catslide roof on the inner, northern side. Attached to it is a lower single-storey range, with a smaller outhouse beyond.
EXTERIOR: north section. Structurally, the northern bay is of brick with timber lacing, probably the remains of a light scantling timber frame, infilled or replaced in brick. The entrance, in the right hand bay, has a door of four panels beneath a flat canopy on shaped brackets. Windows are early C21 two, three and four-light timber casements with square leaded lights in rectangular openings; the façade, fixtures and fittings were refurbished c 2010.
The central section has two window bays with a blocked opening to the right, almost opposite the stack, although the central section has a continuous clunch and red brick plinth. Ground floor openings have flush red brick openings beneath cambered arched heads, with blue brick dressings and stone keystones. The keystone of the left hand ground floor window is carved with apotropaic marks (to ward off evil). First floor openings are set high under the eaves, which are cogged on both west and east elevations. The left hand junction has red brick quoins. Windows are three-light metal-framed casements in timber architraves. The brick stack is square on plan and has a moulded base and cap.
The right hand section is of red brick in Flemish bond with flush blue brick dressings with a moulded brick plinth, and also may have been raised in height at the eaves as the brick coursing is not consistent. It is inscribed WJ 1777 to the right of the left hand ground floor window, and also has other undated initials scratched into the brick (AK, AW, IT, TM, WF). These have not been identified but the initials IT appear on a nearby building. The left hand windows are of two lights, the right hand windows of three lights. Between is a blocked opening, this and the adjacent window and beneath flush, cambered arches. It has been suggested that the southern bay was rearranged to create a symmetrical room when viewed from inside.
INTERIOR: the northern section was extensively repaired in 2010 when the internal plan was modified and the roof structure rebuilt.
The ground floor of the central section has been subdivided in the C20. The principal space has a chamfered spine beam and joists, in 1997 recorded as having lambs' tongue stops. It has a large brick chimneystack, opened up in 2010 to reveal an inglenook fireplace that has been restored. The section to the north has a flat-sectioned axial beam and a light scantling partition wall separates it from the later northern section.
The fireplace opening in the southern room has a steeply cambered bressumer with large mortices on the underside, suggesting that it is a reused collar from a late medieval roof. Within the chimney breast is a blocked opening with a narrow two-panel door giving onto the rear passage. The rear wall has been exposed to reveal straight, slender timber lacing infilled in stretcher bond brick. The south-facing window architrave does not align with the external opening. C21 stairs rise to the rear of the bay although historically there were stairs within this section of the house. First floor fireplaces have simple cambered brick arches.
On both floors there is a notable assemblage of iron-framed casements in timber frames, most with quarter ovolo moulded mullions, one with a cyma moulded frame, some repaired historically. Most of the casements have their original saddle bars, cames and leaded lights, some with shaped heads; most have sprung, pigtail catches and plates and spiral or quadrant moulded stays.
The main roof is of clasped purlin construction, mostly with raking queen struts and a ridge piece, and although some joints are numbered, it incorporates reused material. However the truss adjacent to the stack has a cambered tie beam and queen posts suggesting the survival of an earlier roof. An internal partition of wide horizontal boards remains in place. The roof was repaired in 2010 when the roof over the northern section was rebuilt.
The southern service wing, formerly the brew house or bakehouse, has a small brick stack with a shallow brick arch to the oven.
The single-storey kitchen added to the north-east corner of the house in 2010 is not of special interest.
