Summary
Little Park Hatch is a former farmhouse, now pub, of the late C16 or early C17, with various C20 extensions which are not of special interest.
Reasons for Designation
Little Park Hatch is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Historic interest: the building is a farmhouse of c1600, which retains a significant proportion of its timber frame and its substantial chimney stack with ground and first-floor fireplaces; its later cladding in brick reflects the increasing availability of such materials in the C18 and C19, and the changing fashions in building which resulted;
* Architectural interest: the building is a good example of a timber-framed lobby-entry plan house – a distinctive plan-form which became widely adopted.
History
Little Park Hatch is believed to be the former farmhouse of Parkhatch Farm – a holding established in the late C16. The fabric of the building points to a date of late C16 or early C17, indicating it to be the original, or near original, dwelling associated with the site.
The tithe survey of 1842 shows the farm, with associated fields of around 15 acres, in the ownership of Sir Henry Austen, a major Surrey landowner. The timber frame of the building has been faced in brick, seemingly in two phases: brickwork on the east end wall is possibly late C17 or early C18, whereas that to the front and rear is likely to be early C19. Farm buildings, arranged in an 'L' shape, were located to the north-east of the house, these are now demolished. The building was converted to use as a public house in the 1960s, and at several points during the C20 the building was extended to the north, south and west. These extensions comprise a two-storey, two-bay extension to the west end of the building and a shallow two-storey extension to the north (front) elevation (both possibly contemporary with one another and possibly predating the conversion to a pub); and two later single-storey extensions to the rear.
Details
Little Park Hatch is a former farmhouse, now pub, of the late C16 or early C17, with various C20 extensions. The description below relates to the original three-bay building unless otherwise stated.
MATERIALS: the building is timber-framed, now enclosed in red brick and hung clay tiles. The roof is clay tile and windows are C20 casements with leaded lights. The later extensions are red brick laid in stretcher bond and tile-hung, with tiled roofs and casement windows (some with leaded lights, some without).
PLAN: the building is a three-bay, lobby-entry plan house with a gable-ended queen-post roof with side purlins, and a substantial ridge stack. The entrance lobby is to the north, with one bay to the east of the stack, and two bays (a larger and a smaller) to the west. The stack fills the width of the building to the south of the lobby. The location of the original stair is uncertain, but there is possible evidence of its location in the floor joists of the eastern bay. The two bays to the west have been opened up at ground floor to form a single space; the most westerly bay has been opened up to the south into a single-storey extension; and two doorways have been made into the original west end wall, leading into the two-storey west end extension, where the current stair is now housed.
At first floor a corridor has been created to the north to give independent access to each of four rooms. Two of the four rooms have been created by the subdivision of the large central bay, probably in the C20. The stairwell and a fifth room is located in the two-storey west end extension, and a bathroom in the north front extension.
EXTERIOR: the façade is faced in red brick laid in Flemish bond, with a brick modillion course at eaves level. The end bay to the west is masked by the shallow two-storey extension on this elevation.
The rear elevation is faced in red brick laid in Flemish bond; the two westerly bays are tile-hung at first floor, whereas the east bay is all brick. At eaves level the rafter feet are exposed. The ground floor of the west bay is masked by a single-storey extension to the rear.
The east end wall is faced in red bricks, narrower than those in the front and rear elevations, laid in English bond.
INTERIOR: at ground floor a chamfered spine beam in all three bays, and the floor joists (a number of which have been replaced), are left exposed. The east bay contains the gents' WCs, with the bar area in the two west bays. Stop-chamfered posts have been inserted to support the timber framework where original structural elements have been removed, namely between the two west bays, and to the rear of the west bay; there are also mortises in evidence to suggest the position of the original partition between the two west bays. These bays are heated by a large inglenook fireplace with a timber bressumer. Variation in brickwork and irregular smoke blackening suggests some level of alteration to the fireplace. A brickwork arch within the fireplace to the left is perhaps a smoking bay.
At first floor the weathered timber frame of the original west end outer wall is exposed, as is the inner face of much of the frame throughout the first floor rooms, including tie-beams with vertical struts above. The framework of the partition wall between the west bays is exposed from both sides, revealing evidence of an interlinking doorway. A single wooden peg remains in the south wall plate of the west bay. The large central bay was heated by a first-floor fireplace with a timber lintel, but is now divided into two smaller rooms. Doors are wide and generally two-panel, hung on H-L hinges fixed with screws, suggesting a C19 date for the fixings.
Within the roof space a number of the rafters (which are all of a comparable size) appear original, and meet at the apex without a ridgeboard; purlins and collars appear to be historic timbers, however there is no evidence of the struts which are visible in the rooms below, indicating a level of alteration. Modern joists have been inserted between pairs of rafters c.70cm below the level of the purlins.
