Pounsley Oast

Summary

Former oast house, later a residence. Probably early to mid C19, and converted in the 1970s.

Reasons for Designation

Pounsley Oast, an early to mid C19 brick and weather-boarded oast house converted to residential accommodation in the early 1970s, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Architectural interest: a distinctive regional agricultural building type built of vernacular materials with a readable plan form, retaining its interior timber frame, including roof structure and ledged plank doors;
* Group value: part of a former farmstead with an adjoining listed former barn in a hamlet with several listed buildings;
* Rarity: oast houses as a building type are a comparative rarity in East Sussex;
* Materials: the use of weather-boarding appears uncommon to East Sussex oast houses.

History

This early C19 oasthouse is shown with its current footprint on the 1874 first edition 25 inch Ordnance Survey map of Sussex as part of a farmstead.

The building was converted into a residence in the early 1970s.

Details

Former oast house, later a residence. Probably early to mid C19, and converted in the 1970s.

MATERIALS: red brick hop kiln in header bond. The ground floor of the stowage is in red brick in Sussex bond; its upper floor is weather-boarded, over a timber-frame. Tiled roof.

PLAN: a single cylindrical former hop kiln with attached two-storey three bay rectangular stowage to the south-east. Modified in the later C20 by the insertion of room partitions*, staircase* and an extension* on the north side of the former hop kiln (which are not of special interest).

EXTERIOR: the principal front faces south. The former kiln has a C20 entrance facing south, and a conical tiled roof over. Two very small C20 windows have been inserted into the conical roof. The attached former stowage has a roof which is half-hipped to the west and hipped to the east. A wooden exterior staircase leads to an original ledged plank door with pintle hinges on the first floor and there are three C20 casement windows of traditional type with leaded lights. The ground floor has a central half-glazed wooden door and two casement windows.

The east side has a similar casement window on each floor.

The north side has a later C20 glazed single-storey extension added onto the kiln and some C20 casement windows to the upper floor of both hop kiln and stowage. A later C20 brick chimney has also been added on this side.

The west side has an inserted casement window to the former kiln.

INTERIOR: the ground floor of the former hop kiln has a C20 plank ceiling over the drying floor. The ground floor of the stowage retains original transverse ceiling beams. The later C20 partitions* and spiral staircase* are not of special interest. The upper floor of the stowage has later C20 partitions* but there are visible original jowled posts with curved braces onto tie beams, collar beams and angled queen struts. There is an original ledged plank door in the centre of the upper floor and four steps at the western end lead up to an original C19 ledged plank door, originally connecting with the drying floor of the kiln, which has two C20 plank doors.

* Pursuant to s.1 (5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 ('the act') it is declared that these aforementioned features are not of special interest.

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