Farm Range On North Side Of Healing Wells Farm

Farm range on the north side of Healing Wells Farm, off Healing Wells Road

A multifunctional farm building dating to the late 18th or early 19th century, with the central section rebuilt probably in the mid 19th century. The building is constructed mainly of red brick laid in Flemish bond, with English Garden Wall bond to the rear and rebuilt centre section. The roof is pantiled.

The structure comprises a two-storey central section of two wide bays flanked by single-bay end towers of three storeys, all built above a full cellar. The cellar is at ground level relative to the former adjacent farmyard to the south-east.

The end towers are capped by shallow pitched pyramidal roofs. Both towers feature full-height round arched recessed panels to their end and front elevations, with a two-course brick band set just below the impost level of the arches. Each panel contains a central round arched opening on each floor, formed with brick headers and with sills of two courses of projecting brickwork. The openings decrease in height upwards: the second floor openings are lunettes, those to the first floor are windows, and those to the ground floor are doorway-sized. Many of the openings are blind, mostly blocked with brickwork that appears to be original, except for the doorways to each end elevation which appear to have been blocked more recently. Each end elevation also has a wide segmentally arched opening to the cellar.

The rear (north-west) elevation of the towers is plain. The south-west tower has a single square opening at first floor level that has been inserted. The north-east tower has a first floor doorway with a timber lintel below a segmental brick relieving arch, served by an external flight of steps.

The central section is constructed with thicker bricks than those used for the towers. The south-east elevation is blind except for an inserted doorway with timber lintel, and features a central section that projects slightly forward. The north-west elevation has two round arched openings to the first floor (that to the left being blind). The ground floor has two doorways with timber lintels, offset outwards from the first floor openings. The pantiled pitched roof was largely collapsed at the time of inspection.

The above-ground interior was not inspected. The building is situated on a low rise. The full cellar features a tunnel vault of elliptical cross-section with groined cross vaults associated with side openings, all constructed from gauged brickwork. The south-east side has three cart openings: the central one retains doors to a vaulted tunnel leading to the former farmyard. The flanking openings have been blocked with brickwork but probably originally connected with ground floors of farm ranges that flanked the yard. The north-east side has narrow openings, possibly originally chutes, also blocked with brickwork.

The building represents a multifunctional farm design incorporating ground floor stabling, first floor granary and storage, with dovecots occupying the top floors of the two towers. The large cellar may have housed livestock or been used for feed processing. Dating from a period when English agriculture led the world and investment in new farm buildings became fashionable among the landed gentry, this building exemplifies a smaller-scale version of the sophisticated approach to model farms. The parish's open fields were enclosed by Act of Parliament in 1853.