10 Rowsham Road, Bierton

Summary

A timber-framed former hall house of the C16, encased and remodelled in the C18 and C19, extended to the rear in the mid to late C20.

Reasons for Designation

No 10 Rowsham Road, a C16 vernacular building with later alterations, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Architectural interest: the remaining timber frame constitutes a significant proportion of original fabric, including all principal posts and the roof structure. It is constructed with good quality timber of substantial scantling and adept joinery;
* Intactness: although the external walls were encased in the C18, the main components of the building's timber frame survive, including all principal posts and the roof structure of the C16 phase, and the C17 floor frames;
* Interior: the late medieval plan-form remains legible, and the C17 reconfiguration when the hall was ceiled over and a fireplace was inserted into the probable smoke bay, adds to the interest of the building.

History

Bierton is a small, linear hamlet to the NE of Aylesbury. Pevsner (1994, 179-80) notes that an Iron Age settlement lies beneath the village and Roman and Saxon occupation is recorded in the area. The settlement’s historic core lies to the SW where the C14 parish Church of St James (Grade I, National Heritage List for England 1160435) and numerous other listed buildings are located.

No 10 Rowsham Road, which stands at the NE extent of the settlement, has the appearance of a modest cottage. Recent inspection, however, indicates that it originated as a small C16 hall house, probably thatched, with a possible smoke bay at the S end, in line with the likely location of the original entrance at the W elevation. The hall house was remodelled in the C18 when externally the whole was encased with brick, replacing the studs of the timber wall frames, and dormers were added to the front (W) elevation. Internally, a floor was inserted (necessitating the partial removal of one of the tie beams), a stack was built within the smoke bay and the position of the stairs was altered. It is conjectured that the solar (the private chamber at the high end of the hall, usually on the first floor) was at the S end, beyond the smoke bay, and indeed from our understanding of the internal layout of hall houses this would seem most likely. This third bay at the S was either removed when the adjoining house, first evident on the 1899 OS map of Buckinghamshire, was constructed, or subsumed within the new structure. Further partitions were added to the interior in the C19, and the fenestration and entrance doors date to this period; an external stack at the N elevation (partially removed in 2016) is probably C19. An extension was added to the rear in the mid to late C20.

Details

A timber-framed former hall house of the C16, encased and remodelled in the C18 and C19, extended to the rear in the mid to late C20.

MATERIALS: principal timber-framed elements remain, with brick elevations and a clay tile covering to the roof.

PLAN: a former hall house of three bays with a narrow off-centre smoke bay accommodating a later stack; the third solar bay at the S end was removed in the C19 or incorporated into the adjoining later house. Remodelled in the C18 to form a two-room cottage with an attic.

EXTERIOR: a two bay cottage of one storey with an attic, with external walling of red/orange brick laid in Flemish Bond, and a pitched roof, half-hipped at the N end. The principal elevation (facing W) has a central timber panelled door with a simple door case, the slightly projecting head supported on slender carved consoles. On either side are tripartite C19 casement windows beneath segmental brick heads; at the S end is a single inserted window, in line with the inserted stack, and in the probable position of the original entrance. Above, the attic is lit by two small dormers beneath gablets with renewed brickwork. The rear (E) elevation is dominated by later extensions. The S elevation adjoins the later house and the N elevation, beneath the hip, is rendered with a partially dismantled, shouldered external stack, to the left of which is a boarded window.

INTERIOR: the timber frame of two of the bays is largely complete, the third bay to the S has been truncated. The frame, of substantial scantling, is pegged and jointed. On both floors all principal posts survive and the framing of the S cross wall is intact. At the S end the inserted stack has an inglenook fireplace with bressumer and bread oven. The floor frames comprise lightly moulded axial bridging beams and joists. At attic level the wall plates are present and the roof structure is fully exposed. Half-hipped at the N end, the trusses comprise queen posts supporting clasped side purlins with arched wind braces to the purlins. Arched braces support two of the substantial tie beams. The principal rafters and collars are present, with some additional later support.

Sources

Books and journals
Pevsner, N, Williamson, E, The Buildings of England: Buckinghamshire, (1994), 179-180

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