Hill Farm

Reasons for Designation

Hill Farm, Kirtling, Cambridgeshire, is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons: * Historic: This farmhouse dating from pre-1700 has a substantial proportion of its original timber-frame and other historic fabric surviving and therefore sustains claims to special historic interest. * Architectural: The building is an evolved structure with detailing such as the two-storey stair turret, indicative of its different stages of development, and representative of the vernacular architecture of the region.

Details

KIRTLING

170/0/10007 NEWMARKET ROAD 21-DEC-09 Hill Farm

II Farmhouse, later C17 with C18 alterations.

MATERIALS Timber box-frame construction with brick infill panels, faced with cement render. The roof is covered with plain tiles.

PLAN Rectilinear plan form and is oriented east/west. It comprises a pair of two-storey ranges and a single-storey range which are contiguous.

EXTERIOR The principal elevation (south) consists of three distinct elements. The first is of three bays, and has a central entrance door with modern, small paned casement windows either side. There is a series of three, eight over eight sash windows at first floor. The adjoining range has a pair of C20 glazed doors at ground and a C20 timber-framed casement window above. The single-storey section has a large C20 timber-framed casement window and a smaller casement next to it;its east gable is blind.

The rear elevation (north) of the single-storey range has a six-light casement window. A glazed and timber entrance porch has been added in the C20. There is also a small section of combed pargetting to the left of the window. The central range has modern timber-framed casement windows at ground and first floors and also in the east gable end. The end range has a catslide roof with a two-storey gabled dormer which contains the main stair case. The west gable end has a modern casement window with small panes at ground floor and a small, two-light window at attic level.

INTERIOR At ground floor there is a kitchen, a dining room, two sitting rooms, games room, study and WC. A passageway connects the rooms. There are fireplaces in the dining room and both sitting rooms and parts of the framing, studs, cross timbers, spine beam and groundsill are exposed throughout. There is a simple timber staircase with open sides and half landings on the north side of the house, which leads down to a cellar and up to first floor and attic. There is also an internal leaded light in the flank wall of the stair turret.

At first floor is a bathroom, four bedrooms and a walk-in closet. There are parts of the framing, studs, cross-beams and bracing exposed throughout first floor. There is also a small, secondary staircase, abutting the south side of the central chimney stack, which links the master bedroom and middle sitting room. The attic has a mixture of historic timbers and later replacement rafters, tie beams and collars. The floor is made of wide timber boards.

A number of plank and batten doors with strap hinges survive throughout the house.

HISTORY Hill Farm lies in the former Kirtling Estate, acquired by the Tudor courtier Edward North in 1533; he was named Lord North of Kirtling in 1554. The house dates from the later half of the C17, judging by its fabric. From the 1680s the estate¿s fortunes declined in 1696 it was one of 13 farms on the estate. Careful management of the estate in the 1770s included the consolidation of the farms into larger units: alterations to the building may reflect this phase. C20 alterations include the addition of a new porch and new windows.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION Hill Farm, Kirtling, Cambridgeshire, is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons: * Historic: This farmhouse dating from pre-1700 has a substantial proportion of its original timber-frame and other historic fabric surviving and therefore sustains claims to special historic interest. * Architectural: The building is an evolved structure with detailing such as the two-storey stair turret, indicative of its different stages of development, and representative of the vernacular architecture of the region.

SOURCES

Wareham A.F and Wright A.P, Victoria County History: A History of the County of Cambridgeshire and the Isle of Ely, Vo10 (2002), 69-73.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

507637

Legacy System:

LBS

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