Manor Farm house, Cretingham

Summary

An early-C17 vernacular farmhouse, extended in 1855.

Reasons for Designation

Manor Farm, an early-C17 vernacular farmhouse, extended in 1855, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* for its age and rarity, as an example of a substantially intact C17 vernacular farmhouse;
* for its regional distinctiveness, making use of traditional local building materials and maintaining the presence of a dairy and cheese-loft according to early-C17 Suffolk farming practice;
* for the survival of internal features of interest, including plan form, fireplaces, chamfered beams, and the shelves and shutters of the dairy.

Historic interest:

* for its social and economic interest as an historic farmhouses, and of its rare surviving dairy and cheese loft;
* for the layers of historical value found in the building's clear phases of evolution.

History

Manor Farm was constructed in the early C17 as a large and relatively high-status vernacular farmhouse. The building was historically associated with the farmyard at Manor Farm Barn on the opposite side of the road.

The earliest fabric indicates that the building originally had a T-shaped ground plan, with a parlour, hall and kitchen arranged around a central chimney stack. It had upper storeys and habitable attic spaces. The high-status spaces (the parlour and hall) faced the street, while the kitchen and service areas extended in a long northern range. The steep pitches of the roofs suggest that it was originally thatched.

The service range to the north is unusually long as it includes a large dairy and a cheese loft in the end bay. Farms in central Suffolk began to specialise in cheesemaking in the C16, through to a peak in the mid-C17. The area's farmhouses were sometimes constructed with substantial dairies incorporated into their fabric.

The 1839-41 tithe map and apportionment for the parish of Cretingham records that the building was then owned by Thomas Walker and occupied by William Hicks. The map shows the house with an L-shaped plan and that by 1839 the service wing had been extended to the west, and the hall range had been extended to the east.

In 1855 Manor Farm underwent its last major period of alteration. A new range was constructed parallel to the earlier hall and parlour. This southern range was built of red brick with a diaperwork pattern and the roofs were covered in pantiles. Map evidence suggests that the eastern end of the building was reduced to align the two parallel southern ranges.

Very few physical changes were made to the buildings over the course of the C20. Sanitation and electricity were introduced. One fireplace (ground floor, south-western room) was replaced in the mid-C20, and a range was installed in what may have been the original hall.

Details

An early-C17 vernacular farmhouse, extended in 1855.

MATERIALS

The structure of the house incorporates both red brick and timber (oak and elm). The roofs are covered in pantiles.

PLAN

The historic core of the house was constructed on a T-plan around a central chimney stack. The building has since been extended, but the original plan remains legible.

EXTERIOR

The principal elevation faces south onto Swan Lane. It is three bays wide and two storeys high. The pitched roof is covered in black glazed pantiles. The red-brick walling is laid in a diaperwork pattern formed using burnt headers. The windows are eight-over-eight wooden sashes with gauged brick lintels. There is a central doorway, above which is a stone plaque reading '1855' alongside a monogram with the letters C and A.

The west elevation shows the two major phases of construction together. The diaperwork of the 1855 range at the right-handside (a gable wall with a single window at ground floor), adjoining the hall range and then service wing at the left-hand side. The rendered gable of the hall range terminates a a steeply pitched roof covered in unglazed pantiles. There are casement windows of different designs at the ground, first and attic storeys, each with timber mullions and metal glazing bars. Projecting to the left-hand side is the service wing with a single ground floor window; the wing’s steep roof changes pitch over a small extension.

The north elevation is the gable end of the service wing. It is a single storey high with a large attic storey above. The ground floor has been extended by a single bay to the west and the wall has been rebuilt in brick to the height of the wall plate. There are three arched-openings in the gable wall and a longer opening in the extension, all of which have been blocked up.

On the east side of the service wing there is a single doorway, a fixed two-light window, and a dormer window. The service wing forms a corner with the hall range where a long catslide roof descends. The catslide covers a small extension that can be better appreciated by looking at the rendered gable wall at the east end of the hall range; it is wider on the right-hand side to incorporate a single doorway. There are casement windows at ground, first and attic floor levels of the hall gable, the ground floor window is a mid-C20 replacement. On the left-hand side is the diaper-work gable of the 1855 southern range. It mirrors the western brick gable, with the addition of a small light-well marking the end of the cellar.

There are three brick chimney stacks: two in the valley between the southern and hall ranges, and one large ridge stack at the junction between the service wing and the hall range.

INTERIOR

Within the hall range the original timber frame is clearly visible with a very large beam and joists in the former hall: the joists widely spaced with lambs-tongue stops and broad, hollow mouldings. The former parlour is ceiled with a hewn, un-moulded, beam visible.

In the hall range the doors appear to be C18 in date: some are four panelled, others are plank and batten doors, all of which have L-hinges. The upper storeys of this range retain their original floor surfaces made of very wide oak boards.

The roof structure above the hall range is formed of simple common rafters with side purlins, butt-jointed where they meet collars.

The 1855 range retains its original plan form and joinery. The stair hall has pamment paving. The staircase has turned newel posts with ball finials and a handrail supported by stick balusters. The south-eastern room retains a servant's bell-pull. The cellar is walled and floored in brick.

Most of the visible fireplaces appear to be C19 in date, with wooden surrounds and cast-iron grates. The hall fireplace has been blocked and a mid-C20 range stands in its place; one of the reception room fireplaces was replaced with a tiled mid-C20 fire surround; and the first-floor rooms of the hall range have both had their fireplaces removed.

The service wing includes a kitchen (with late-C20 wall and floor surfaces that are of lesser interest). There is a dairy at ground floor, with the timber frame exposed to the interior. An external door has been blocked at the north-east corner. The north wall contains ventilated (unglazed) windows with top-hung shutters. Around the edges of the dairy are wide wooden shelves for settling milk. Within the ground floor extension it is possible to see the historic external wall-covering that shows a simple pargeted panel design. Above the dairy is a room with a (blocked) ventilated window; this room is likely to be a cheese loft. It adjoins an unheated first-floor chamber. Between these two rooms is a strong C17 door, the only studded door in the house, perhaps an historic security measure for the goods once stored inside.

Sources

Other
1883 Ordnance Survey map (25")
1839-41 tithe map and apportionment for the parish of Cretingham

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