Little Park

Reasons for Designation

Little Park is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons: * Architectural interest: it is an early C18 (or possibly earlier) vernacular farm house constructed of Isle of Wight stone with a good survival of interior features. * Degree of intactness: there are some C20 external alterations on the south-west side but these have resulted in little loss of historic fabric. * Rarity: not many houses of this plan form survive on the Isle of Wight and it is a rare, relatively unaltered, example of a simple C18 vernacular Isle of Wight house type.

Details

BRADING

1352/0/10016 WEST STREET 30-APR-10 Little Park

II Farm house, later house. Early C18 farm house.

MATERIALS: Constructed mainly of Isle of Wight coursed stone rubble, interspersed with some clunch and ironstone, with narrow red brick dressings. The south-west side was rendered in the C20. Gabled tiled roof with three slate courses to the edge of the front slope, part of the rear slope replaced in corrugated asbestos. Truncated ridge brick chimneystack at the south-east end and a further below the ridge brick chimneystack at the northern end of the north eastern slope.

PLAN: A two-bay end-chimneystack house with rear outshot. Two-storeys with two windows to the south west, sloping to one-storey with catslide roof to rear.

EXTERIOR: The south-west or entrance front has a stringcourse, probably of brick although rendered over, and stone plinth with two brick courses at the top. It probably also has brick end quoins under the later render. The probably enlarged window openings have C20 wooden casements. The central entrance has a shallow C20 porch flanked by rendered brick triangular buttresses, but behind this is an earlier, probably mid C19, plank door. The north-west side elevation appears to have a low level blocked window opening. The south-east elevation also has brick end quoins and there are two window openings with red brick dressings and a further blocked opening. The north-east elevation has two boarded windows with red brick dressings and a central C19 ledged and braced plank door. The C19 brick WC to the north-west is of lesser interest.

INTERIOR: The ground floor has a large south-western room occupying about two thirds of the frontage, a smaller north-western room and the rear outshot. The front door opens directly into the south-western room, which has a large wooden fireplace with later wooden shelf on brackets to the south-eastern wall. The ceiling is of lath and plaster. A partition wall to the north-east has a ledged door leading into the outshot and a north-western partition wall has a C19 four-panelled door leading into the smaller north-western room. Photographs taken in October 2007 show a wooden winder staircase. A first floor plastered ceiling and some wooden floor joists were visible externally through the upstairs south western window.

HISTORY: Little Park appears to date from the early C18 or possibly earlier. There is a long history of a building on this site. Little Park was originally part of the royal Manor of Whitefield which Edward I acquired in 1293. In 1520 Oliver Oglander leased the manor from the Crown and in 1559 the lease was in the possession of his widow, Ann Oglander. She sub-let the various parts of it to sub-tenants, and Little Park was sub-let to Thomas Kendall, sexton. An entry from the survey of the Manor of Whitefield in about 1557 relates "Thomas Kendall alias Kendye holdeth of Ann Oglander, widow,as parcel of the manor of whitefield a tenement in Brading called Little Park, late in tenure of Roger Vivien" (document OG/31/31). However Thomas Kendall had already sublet Little Park to a John Henton. His widow remarried Edward Withers, a tanner, and on 14th April 1576 Edward Withers was admitted to Park, containing 14 acres, on his own life and those of Katherine Withers, his daughter, and John Henton, his step-son. The inventory of Edward Withers' goods of 1582 shows thast he held tanners goods "in the Park House". His daughter Catherine married a Thomas Parsons, who on 28th September 1615, renewed the lease of Little Park on his own life and that of John and Catherine, his children.

In 1630 Sir John Oglander of Nunwell bought the lease of the manor of Whitefield from the Crown and Little Park became part of the Oglander estate. On 1st November 1636 Parke was leased to William Newland of Brading, glover, on his own life and those of William and Thomas, his sons. On 17th April 1655 William Newland was admitted as Tenant of Parke (note: various spellings and naming variations appear in the historical records) in the Borough of Brading. In 1679, Widow Newland paid Sir John Oglander a rent of 6s 8d for Park. She survived until June 1704, when administration of her goods was granted to Elizabeth Newland of Brading, spinster, her only surviving child, who married in 1704, John Richards of Nettlestone in the parish of St Helen's, mariner.

At Michaelmas 1704, Little Parke was let to Mr Charles Farthing for a rent of 10s. Charles Farthing renewed the lease on 26 January 1707/08 and on 14th November 1722 he mortgaged the lease to John White of Kerne. Document OG/K/24 records the following:

"14th November 1722. Mortgage of the farm house called Little Park, in the parish of Brading, which lease was granted by Sir William Oglander of Nunwell, Baronet on 26th January 1707/08 to said Charles Farthing of Nunwell, yeoman, for 3 lives, Charles Farthing, his brother William and William How of Brading, blacksmith and also the freehold of peaked close (5 acres) to other lands".

In 1734 the property was held by Charles Farthing, aged 55, on his own life and those of william Farthing, aged 60 and William How, aged 48. On 10th December 1741, it was leased to Susanna Farthing of Appleford, his widow, on her own life and those of William Farthing, her late husband's brother and Mary, daughter of John Dore of Appleford, parish of Godshill.

A building in the position of the existing Little Park is shown on the 1773 Oglander Estate map when it was in the possession of James [blank]. The property is shown with boundaries marked 5M and shows another building situated to the south west of the house (no longer surviving) and a pond. The map shows a small drawing of the front of the house showing a two-storey house with four windows to each floor, central doorcase and two end-chimneystacks.

On 10th September 1782 it was leased as Little Parke to Thomas Midlane of Brading, yeoman. In the 1841 Census James Hatcher, aged 70, parish clerk, Francis Hatcher, aged 25 and Mary Deacon, Independent, lived here, but much of the land had been added to New Farm.

On the 1873 Ordnance Survey Map the property is named Little Park and has the same square footprint as the existing property. The area to the north west of the house is shown wooded, possibly denoting an orchard. To the south west of the pond two small buildings are shown which have not survived. By the 1897 and 1908 Ordnance Survey sheets only one of these small buildings surived. An external brick WC was added in the C19 to the north west elevation, although it is not marked on the maps. Little Park was sold from the Oglander estate in 1960 and became derelict during the late C20.

SOURCES: Oglander collection documents. OG 31/31 is an entry from the 1559 Survey of the manor of Whitefield referring to Little Park and OG/K/24 of 14th November 1722 concerns the mortgage of Little Park. 1773 Oglander Estate map. An extract including Little Park is published in Marion Brinton (eds.) "Farmhouses and Cottages of the Isle of Wight" (1987).

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION: * Architectural interest: an early C18 vernacular farm house constructed of Isle of Wight stone with a good survival of interior features. * Intactness: some C20 external alterations on the south-west side have not resulted in much loss of historic fabric. * Rarity: the plan type is rare locally and it is also rare as a relatively unaltered example of a vernacular Isle of Wight farm house.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

504380

Legacy System:

LBS

End of official list entry

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