Little Applewood Farm

Summary

House, originating in the C17, with later extensions.

Reasons for Designation

Little Applewood Farm, a cottage originating in the C17, is listed at Grade II, for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* originating in a period where there is a presumption in favour of listing, the cottage retains a substantial proportion of the historic fabric from the first, and subsequent phases of building;
* the simple plan form of the building survives, and the timber framing bears evidence of alterations to suit the changing modes of use of the inhabitants;
* the cottage is locally distinctive, reflecting vernacular building traditions in terms of its form and materials, and is an increasingly rare representation of a modest, simple form of domestic accommodation, once common in the rural area.

Historic interest:

* the building reflects the smallholder tradition, which historically formed the core of New Forest economy and culture.

History

The building now known as Little Applewood Farm is understood to have originated in the C17 as a two-cell, timber-framed dwelling. It stands in a large plot, formerly an orchard. The early-C20 Ordnance Survey map names it as ‘the Marsh’, and sometime after that it was renamed ‘Foxgloves’.

The building appears to have undergone a major phase of modernisation, possibly in the late C18 or early C19. This involved the replacement of much of the ground-floor timber framing in brick. There has been some reconfiguration internally, with the spinal beam in the eastern cell bearing evidence of modification. The stair is an insertion. In the attic, the truss has been cut to create a doorway between the two sides. The small outshut extension on the north-west corner, now containing the bathroom, is likely to have been added soon after the cottage was built. The eastern kitchen extension, which is clearly present on the 1871 map, may be coeval with the modernisation, and is purported to have been used as an apple store.

The building stood derelict for a period prior to renovation in the 1960s. A conservatory and porch (excluded from the listing) were added in the late C20.

Details

House, originating in the C17, with later extensions.

MATERIALS: timber framed and brick, with thatched and tiled roofs and brick chimneystacks.

PLAN: the building stands set back to the north of Harley Lane. It is orientated roughly east-west.

The C17 range is a two-cell plan; it has a C19 extension to the east, upon which a porch* and conservatory* (excluded from the listing) have been added.

EXTERIOR: the main range of the building is a single storey with an attic beneath a pitched thatched roof, with a single-storey extension to the east. The principal elevation faces south. The timber framing of the structure has been largely rebuilt in brick on the ground floor. The modern front door is towards the left-hand side of the elevation. There are two window openings with cambered brick heads, one with a timber lintel, and another with an obscured lintel; windows are mostly double-glazed casements, with some single-glazed casements with diamond leaded glass. Above, there are two three-light casements in the attic, under a continuous, timber-framed eyebrow dormer.

To the rear the thatch roof terminates at impost level and there are a number of irregular openings, including patio doors adapted from window openings. There is an outshut on the west end; the thatched roof continues to the mid-rail as a catslide. The west gable end has an external brick chimneystack with tiled offsets. There is an internal brick stack on the east end.

The eastern extension, probably added in the mid-C19, is a single-storey range, with a shallowly-pitched, tiled roof. Its elevations are painted brick, and there are casement windows with tiled sills on the south and east.

INTERIOR: the ground floor of the main range of the building is occupied by the lounge, to the west, and dining room, to the east; they are separated by a timber-framed wall, rising to meet the central roof truss. Within both ground-floor rooms the floor frame of the upper storey is exposed, and has deeply-chamfered spine beams with curved stepped stops. There are roughly-hewn, almost square joists, and wall plates supporting the upper floor. In the dining room there is a brick inglenook fireplace with rebuilt jambs and a chamfered timber bressumer; it has a bread oven with a cast iron door.

The stair, possibly a C19 insertion, rises to a short landing with a room on either side, and a small WC. The closed queen-post roof truss forms the partition to the eastern bedroom; the tie beam has been cut to form a doorway. The roof structure consists of paired rafters with a diagonally-set ridge piece, butt purlins and roughly-hewn collars, at which level the loft is ceiled.

The kitchen occupies the eastern extension. This room is open to the roof, which has deep, unchamfered tie beams with bracing struts. Timbers bear evidence of reuse.

* Pursuant to s1 (5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (‘the Act’), it is declared that these aforementioned features are not of special architectural or historic interest, however any works which have the potential to affect the character of the listed building as a building of special architectural or historic interest may still require LBC and this is a matter for the LPA to determine.

End of official list entry

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