The Ford

Summary

A house with potential late-C17 origins and C19 additions.

Reasons for Designation

The Ford, Wyre Forest is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* the house is a good example of a vernacular style, stone-built house for a smallholding, possibly of late-C17 or C18 origins;
* the building has been relatively little altered, with each phase of alteration clearly visible and understandable;
* the degree of survival of fixtures such as historic doors, windows and fireplaces is high.

Historic interest:

* in conjunction with tithe records, the house is good evidence for how the part-cleared smallholding functioned in its forest surroundings;
* the new chimneys and fireplaces from the C19 reflect adaption to increasing living standards and advances in technology.

History

The Ford farmhouse is located at the south-west edge of Wyre Forest, just under a mile north-east of the centre of Far Forest village. The Wyre Forest became Crown land in the C15, though rights to its use were usually leased to those living locally. From the early C19 the Crown (then the Commissioners of Woods, Forests and Land Revenues) allowed enclosure and gave away some rights to those using the land. The house is named the Ford after the crossings of the Dowles Brook (here the county boundary between Worcestershire and Shropshire) and its tributaries within its 17 acre smallholding. The plot contains woodland and orchards as well as land that up until recently was pasture for sheep, and further in the past for cattle too.

Deeds to the Ford are thought to go back to 1675, but at this time it appears that the land was undeveloped, so the construction of the current stone farmhouse may be related to, and close in date with, this first recorded purchase of the land. The wide central fireplace, (now part-infilled with brick and a C19 range) also indicates a pre-C19 date. The brick chimney stacks have been inserted after the stone house was built and, alongside the fireplaces, grates and ranges within the house appear to date to the C19. The external brick details such as the dentil course at the eaves and arched lintels over windows may also date to this time.

The tithe records from 1843 show that the house and the 17 acres forming the current property were owned by a John Wright and occupied by Thomas Dallon, but the neighbouring plots were still held by the Crown. From 1864 the new railway from Tenbury Wells to Bewdley cut across the northern part of the smallholding, and the house now called Ford Lane Crossing was set up as a cottage as the railway line needed to be manned where it crossed the path used by forestry workers. After the closure of the line in the 1960s, this railway cottage has been much extended and is now in private ownership as an enclave within the larger property of the Ford. An extension adding a ground floor porch and bathroom was added to the Ford around 1980, and the roof was repaired in the early-C21. In the 2020s the farmstead fell out of use, and the pigsty and outhouse attached to the house have become ruined.

Aside from the farmhouse, the plot contains the remains of a former combination barn around 50m north-west of the house (not covered by this listing). This barn was stone built with a timber-framed central section and a cart shed with floor above to its east end, but in the early C21 it collapsed into a ruinous state.

Details

A house with potential late-C17 origins and C19 additions.

MATERIALS: uncoursed sandstone rubble walls with brick dressing, extension to house in brick, clay tile roofs.

PLAN: the house is two wings, with the longer orientated east / west and the shorter north / south. The shorter wing runs south from the east end of the longer wing to form an ‘L’ shaped plan. An extension wraps around the north-west corner of the house, and there are ruined outbuildings attached to the north and east; these additions are excluded from the listing.

EXTERIOR: the house is two storeys under an ‘L’ shaped pitched roof with gable ends to the south and west. The wrap around extension (excluded from the listing) is a single-storey to the north-west corner, with its northern roof slope a catslide extension from the main roof, and its western side leaning in to the first-floor wall of the west elevation. The house is served by three chimney stacks: one in the centre of the west gable rising through the ridge, another in the south gable, and the third in the centre of the north elevation where the stack rises from a much wider stone breast which projects out from the wall. All the stacks are in brick which appear to be later insertions to the stone house. Windows are either double or triple iron casements on pintles with horizontal saddle-bars, and although of an early style, may well be replacements of the same date as the brick additions to the house as the ground floor windows are under segmental brick arches. A brick dentil course has been applied at eaves level to the front elevation only, this course is broken by the first-floor windows which sit just below the eaves.

The front elevation faces south, with the longer wing housing a central front door of plank construction. The door is flanked by a pair of windows, the living room window to the right (east) of the door is higher than the kitchen window to the left (west) of the door. At first floor are a double window to the left and triple window to the right. The south elevation of the shorter wing is solid, but shows the inserted brick chimney, and the side of the late-C20 extension (excluded from the listing) has a window here.

The east elevation is solid except for a window into the dairy at ground floor to its north end. At ground floor to the south are the attached ruined remains of a stone outbuilding (excluded from the listing).

The north elevation is dominated by the projecting stone chimney breast to its centre. Left (east) of the chimney at ground floor level are the ruined remains of an attached stone pigsty (excluded from the listing), with a window at first floor level above. Right (west) of the chimney is the late-C20 extension (excluded from the listing), whose roof extends as a catslide but projects out in a hip to the west where it wraps around the corner.

The west elevation shows the gable end of the longer wing of the house with the C20 extension covering its north side, the brick chimney rising centrally, and a lean-to roof covering a low bread oven to the south. The projection of the shorter wing is beyond that, with a window to the parlour at ground floor level and a bedroom window over that.

INTERIOR: doors are all made from planks, some within moulded doorframes. There are no other mouldings except for a plain, low skirting board in the central living room. Upstairs wide wooden floorboards visibly nailed to the joists are exposed except for in one bedroom which has more modern, narrow shiplap pine boards. Fireplaces have C19 grates and surrounds, except for the one in the parlour which has a C20 tiled surround.

The front door opens from the south into the main living room, whose ceiling has a chamfered spine beam holding exposed ceiling joists. Dominating the north wall of the central living room is a large fireplace which has been partly brick-infilled and now houses a cast iron range to the centre and built in brick oven to the right. As well as the front door, there are four internal doors leading off from this central room: in the east wall is a door through to the dairy, south of this another door to the narrow winder stairs up, then at the south wall’s east end a door to the parlour, and finally, moving past the front door is the door to the kitchen in the west wall. To the right at the foot of the stairs is a small door to stairs down to the cellar room beneath the parlour. The kitchen has an old cast iron range against the west gable chimney, to the left of which is a brick arch in the wall over a hatch to the bread oven. Upstairs are three bedrooms off a landing to the stairs.

Sources

Other
Worcestershire Historic Environment Record no: WSM54080; The Ford, Rock
The National Archives: IR29/39/18: Tithe Commission and successors: Tithe Apportionments, 1843 Bewdley, Worcestershire

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