The Old Farmhouse, Glebe Farm

This late 17th-century longhouse served as a yeoman's farmhouse. It is built on oak cruck frames with chalk walling clad externally in slim handmade brick, mostly laid in stretcher bond, under pantile roofs.

Plan

The single-storey longhouse consists of three cells with the byre end to the south. Though the cross-passage wall to the byre has been removed, the opposed entrances survive, with the byre latterly used as a kitchen. The stair to the inserted attic floor rises alongside the east wall of the central room (the housebody). The northern bay, beyond a timber partition, forms a parlour. The attic is divided into three rooms. At the foot of the stair a doorway leads to a single-bay outshut, whose only other opening is an external door. A single-bay outbuilding (wash-house) is attached to the north end of the longhouse.

Exterior

West elevation: The west front is entirely clad in brick with a straight joint where it meets the chalk-walled wash-house to the north. A jagged joint between the central and southern bays shows a slight change in brickwork, marking either a rebuild or recladding. Other smaller areas of recladding exist elsewhere. The northern and central bays have six-pane horizontal sliding sashes with thin glazing bars but lack proper sills or lintels. The southern bay has a smaller four-pane window beneath a timber lintel. A small two-by-two sliding sash is tucked under the eaves to light the central attic room. The doorway, on the northern side of the southern bay, has a board door set in a simply architraved doorcase but again lacks a proper lintel. To its left, aligned with the stub of the central stack (just off the ridge), is a blocked fire window.

South gable: The lower part is brick-clad with the upper half exposed chalk walling. The lower brickwork is emphasised to form a rough, high plinth. The chalk walling uses well-dressed blocks to eaves level with more random chalk rubble above. The pantile roof slightly oversails the gable top. A stub of a brick stack sits at the ridge. A single narrow window lights the attic with a 20th-century fixed light.

East elevation: Most of the east elevation shows exposed chalk walling, with lower parts clad in brickwork and the northern bay partially rendered. The central bay is covered by the outshut with its catslide roof. The southern bay has a door and window, both with segmentally arched heads formed from single courses of brick headers; the joinery is probably 20th century. The wash-house to the north has its only openings on the east elevation, which is brick-built and features a brick corner stack with chimney pot.

North gable: Partly covered by the wash-house, the exposed gable is entirely brick-clad with tumbling-in brickwork to the raised gable top. A single large window, offset to the east, lights the attic and retains the remains of a four-by-four horizontal sliding sash.

Interior

Cruck frames: The longhouse retains two in situ base cruck frames complete with saddles and collars, their lower parts built into the chalk walling. The blades of the northern cruck are a matched pair split from a single timber. Its collar is halved onto the south side of the blades and secured by single pegs. Both blades are mortised into the saddle, each secured by two pegs. This saddle supports a block which in turn supports a diamond-set ridge beam. Purlins (later replacements) are trenched into the backs of the blades. The southern crucks are an unmatched pair: the east blade is relatively straight but elbowed just below the collar, with a replacement timber spliced into its base. The west blade is possibly double-curved but is largely obscured by plaster. Again the collar is halved into the blades which are mortised into the saddle, with each joint secured by two pegs. Dendrochronology analysis of the blades and collars shows that both trusses include timber from a single tree felled in winter 1670.

Housebody: The central bay or housebody is separated from the southern bay by a chalk wall incorporating the chimney, and from the former parlour to the north by a plank and muntin partition, with similar panelling dividing off the staircase rising alongside the east wall. The area beneath the stairs has been interpreted as the remains of a box bed. Set just to the south, and probably predating the partition, is a beam with an ogee and stepped moulding on the south side and a hollow chamfer on the north side. Nearly all other joists supporting the inserted attic floor are sawn softwood, some with 19th-century roll mouldings, some simply chamfered. Floorboards are also pine, with those of the southern bay being broad. The housebody has a 19th-century cast-iron fireplace served by an inserted brick stack in place of the earlier hearth, screened from the doorway to the byre end by a plank partition. A plank door at the foot of the stairs hangs on 18th-century strap hinges, and a similar door to the parlour hangs on butterfly hinges.

Parlour: This retains a simple Regency-period timber chimneypiece, although the fire surround has been lost.

Kitchen: This is served by an inserted brick stack on the south gable wall. The chalk wall to the north includes a brick-lined alcove or former cupboard.

Attic: Both cruck frames include remains of stud, lath and plaster partitions dividing the attic into three rooms. The southern partition retains remains of the former wattle and daub smoke hood.

History

The Old Farmhouse at Octon, a hamlet in the historic parish of Thwing, dates to shortly after winter 1670, the felling date of the timber in the cruck trusses. Originally the building probably had walls of wattle and daub or other similarly insubstantial material, with the chalk walling being an early alteration. Thwing parish baptismal records of 1692 and 1696 suggest the house was then owned and lived in by a yeoman, John Roper. John Roper mortgaged the farm in 1720 and sold it in 1723 for £350 to the Vicar of Folkton as glebe land, giving the farm its current name. At this time it included the house with three adjoining closes together with 10 oxgangs of land within Octon's open fields (an oxgang originally being an area of land that could be cultivated with a single ox). Octon's open fields were enclosed by Parliamentary Act in 1769, with the Vicar of Folkton being awarded enclosed land on either side of the farmhouse totalling just under 100 acres. This consolidation of land may date the encasement of the house with brickwork, although this may have been one of a number of minor improvements apparently made to the house earlier in the 18th century. In 1856 the glebe land of Folkton was transferred to the vicarage of Burton Fleming. The farm was sold by the church to the Burdass family in 1921, who moved into a new farmhouse just to the north in 1939, turning the Old Farmhouse over to storage.

Significance

The Old Farmhouse is designated at Grade II* for its exceptional retention of two complete cruck trusses constructed from timber felled in 1670, confirmed by dendrochronology analysis. It is an exceptionally rare example of a pre-enclosure longhouse that has not been enlarged by raising the roof or adding significant extensions. Early features survive including the plank and muntin partition, moulded beam, together with remains of a smoke hood and possible understairs box bed. In addition to the crucks, the evolution of the walling—early replacement with chalk which is then encased by brick in the 18th century—is a rarely surviving and very good example of local vernacular building techniques.