Kings Farm

Summary

House, built in 1460 as a cruck-framed, four-bay open hall house. The hall was ceiled over and a brick chimney stack inserted in around 1555. C17 alterations. C18 cross wing. C19 and C20 alterations.

Reasons for Designation

Kings Farm in West Winterslow, Wiltshire is listed at Grade II* for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest

* as a significant and largely complete example of a mid-C15 cruck-framed open-hall house;
* for the high degree of survival including four full cruck trusses, with two of the bays retaining a complete original roof structure including all of its common rafters, wattles and smoke-blackened thatch;
* for its mid-C16 chamfered and stopped ceiling, and inserted chimney stack to the upper end of the formerly open hall;
* for the variety of its apex carpentry, including the K-type apex, a rare and regionally distinctive type that has provided new evidence for the longevity of its use in the south-west of England.

Historic interest:

* as an example of a well-preserved cruck-framed house built during the peak phase of cruck building construction, and being one of the early examples of its type in Wiltshire and nationally;
* for its specific illustration of the evolution of domestic arrangements from the medieval open hall house to the heated house of the early modern period and the advancements made in heating technology at this time;
* for the evidence provided in its historic fabric for dating and understanding the building’s historic development;
* for the archaeobotanical evidence that is retained within its smoke-blackened thatch.

History

Kings Farm was built in 1460 as a four-bay, cruck-framed house, comprising a two-bay open hall, with a room to either end; the cross passage is thought to have been in the north bay (the lower end) of the hall. In 1555 a ceiling and a brick chimney stack were inserted into the open hall, and the first floor was probably also ceiled over at this time with evidence for a surviving spine beam and two associated joists visible in the attic space. The first-floor floorboards, as well as surviving sections of the partition walls associated with its first-floor arrangement as a series of interconnecting rooms, are also mid-C16.

The southern two bays of the house appear to have been modified in the C17, with the removal of the cruck at the south end and the complete reconstruction of both the south gable end wall and the east wall, which were raised to form two storeys. The ceiling over the north bay of the open hall, which presumably was originally inserted in the mid-C16, now survives as thin scantling and irregular sized beams and may be a C17 modification. It is thought that the fireplace arrangement to this bay, and the plank door with associated door furniture, are also C17 insertions. The cross wing at the north end of the principal house was added in the C18. The first-floor corridor arrangement and the dormer windows are late C20 insertions.

The tithe map for the parish of Winterslow (1841) shows Kings Farm as a small farmstead with the house to the east and the associated farm buildings to the west, forming the west and south boundary of the farmyard. The 1st Edition Ordnance Survey (OS) map (1876) shows that by this time the farm buildings had been largely demolished with only the eastern part of the southern range surviving; this is shown on the 1925 OS map as being attached to the main house via a single-storey linking structure. These buildings are not included in the listing.

Details

House, built in 1460 as a cruck-framed, four-bay open hall house. The hall was ceiled over and a brick chimney stack inserted in around 1555. C17 alterations. C18 cross wing. C19 and C20 alterations.

MATERIALS: an oak cruck frame. The external walls are of brick laid in Flemish bond, with some timber-framing to the northern two bays of the east elevation. The west elevation of the principal range has been rendered. The roof to the southern two bays is covered in clay pantiles. The roof to the northern two bays and the cross wing is thatched. The windows are timber-framed mullion and transom windows, and casement windows; most are C20, although there is one C17 mullion and transom window to the east elevation and a re-used circa 1800 casement window to the northern dormer of the west elevation. The dormers themselves are all late C20 insertions. Brick chimney stacks.

PLAN: a four-bay, cruck-framed house, orientated on a north to south axis, with a central axial chimney stack between the second and third bay, and a gable end stack to the south end. To the north end is an C18 cross wing with a central axial stack, and a room to either end.

EXTERIOR: the west elevation is of one and a half storeys. The east elevation is comprised of, to the left, a slightly set forward two-storey, two-bay symmetrical arrangement with segmental heads to the ground floor openings. To the right, the exterior returns to one and a half storeys and has an irregular arrangement featuring a six-panelled door and a C17 mullion and transom window. The timber-framing retains a horizontal rail and some of the upright posts that are likely to relate to the original mid-C15 phase of construction. To the north end is the C18 cross wing built of rubble stone to its east wall, with a timber-framed north wall with brick infill panels, and a brick west and south wall. The west wall, which has a half-hipped roof, includes graffiti from the C18 onwards.

INTERIOR: the interior includes four full cruck trusses, with original purlins which rest directly on the back of the cruck trusses to the western side of all four bays, and the northern two bays of the eastern side. The wind braces beneath the purlins have been removed but mortice holes on the crucks and evidence for lap joints on the purlins remain. The trusses each have a collar, with that to the truss over the former open hall being cranked with mortice holes for substantial arch braces beneath. Each truss is different in form above the collar. The northern truss supports a half hip of which a significant proportion of the timbers survive; the two central trusses are extended to reach the E-type apex; and the southern truss is a two-tier arrangement with an additional collar at attic level (K-type apex) with the secondary curved braces rising to a scissor apex (D-type). The four trusses are smoke-blackened, with the heaviest blackening to the truss over the open hall. To this truss, beneath the apex, is wattle and daub infill which is concealed on its north side by the later inserted stack. The two bays to the north of this truss retain all elements of their original roof structure, including all of the common rafters with the woven wattles in between that support the lower layers of the original thatched roof; all is heavily smoke-blackened.

The south bay of the former open hall has an inserted brick chimney stack with an associated fireplace of chamfered stone jambs with a chamfered timber bressumer with run out stops. The inserted ceiling dates to 1555 and comprises an axial spine beam with run out stops at its north end, and half beams in the west and north wall with the same stops. The original square section joists survive with slight chamfers to their outer edges. The ceiling in the lower end of the hall is of thin scantling and irregular sized beams and likely to be a later modification, perhaps of C17 date. There is a C17 fireplace arrangement with a possible C17 timber bressumer, and a C17 plank door with associated door furniture. The first floor has original mid-C16 floorboards, and retains some of its mid-C16 timber-framed partition walls.

C19 fixtures and fittings, including joinery and fireplaces. The staircases at either end of the house, and in the C18 cross wing, are C19 and C20 modifications.

Sources

Other
OS Map 6” (1876 edn)
OS Map 6” (1925 edn)
OS Map 6” (1973 edn)
Tithe Map of the Parish of Winterslow in the County of Wilts (1841)
Wiltshire HER Record, 'Kings Farm' (Monument No: MWI70947)
'House, West Winterslow, Winterslow' (The Historic England Archive, BF054440)

End of official list entry

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