Farmhouse At Forton East Farm

Farmhouse at Forton East Farm

This is a farmhouse of primary interest for its north wing, which dates from the late 14th or early 15th century and contains two surviving pairs of crucks. The building was extended during the 17th and 18th centuries and underwent significant remodelling in the mid-19th century.

The north section and attached northeast cross wing form the earliest part of the house. The exterior is built of hand-made brick in a mixed bond, with a slate roof featuring dentilled eaves and overhanging boarded eaves to the gables. A large external brick stack in stretcher bond with a blue brick cornice stands at the north gable end. The building is two storeys with an attic. The north elevation has two multipane metal-framed casement windows with segmental arched heads. The northeast elevation features a multipane metal-framed casement window with a segmental arched head to the first floor and a square head to the second floor, a blocked loft apex opening under the eaves, and a 20th-century window with a segmental-arched doorway at ground floor. A cruck-blade is embedded in the brickwork to the right of the stack, with further elements of timber framing visible. The west elevation has a three-window range of large pane sashes with painted lintels to the ground floor and a blue brick corniced stack. The taller mid-19th-century south crosswing contains the main entrance with a gabled porch, a four-panelled part-glazed door with overlight, a two-window range of similar windows, and a canted full-length bay at right. A 20th-century extension adjoins to the rear.

Internally, the north range preserves two pairs of crucks. The northern pair appears to have formed the end wall of the original building and was closed, joined by upper and lower collars and fastened with pegged mortice and tenon joints. The southern pair of similar dimensions are differently infilled and have one collar with evidence of arch-bracing. Further cruck-frames probably existed to the south, where the mid-19th-century crosswing now stands. The cruck blades are traceable and further frame elements may survive behind later plaster. In the lower floor of the surviving cruck-framed bay is a plank and muntin partition to the south; the northern part does not survive, though mortices indicate its former continuation. The ceiling consists of wide joists tenoned into a chamfered cross-beam. The first floor has a timber ceiling with a cross beam joined to the exposed collar and lighter joists. Remains of a timber spiral stair survive. The northeast wing also contains timber-framing with beamed and joist ceilings. The mid-19th-century remodelling introduced a hall with an archway, a staircase with moulded handrail and stick balusters, and corniced mouldings, doors and doorcases.

According to specialist analysis, the surviving cruck-framed bay may have been the service bay of a hall house, with the screen separating pantry and buttery, with a chamber above. Further hall bays open to the roof, and arch-bracing to the southern frame suggests additional bays adjoined to the south. A further storeyed bay at the south end may have originally matched that to the north, representing the high and low status ends respectively. Such three-unit cruck-framed hall houses survive more commonly in north and east Wales but less frequently on the English side. The core appears to have been extended eastward during the 17th and 18th centuries, at which time the building became L-shaped. The mid-19th-century remodelling created more elegant reception rooms and a hall at the south end.