Middle Beanhall Farmhouse

REDDITCH B CHURCH ROAD (east side) SO 96 SE Bradley Green

3/36 Middle Beanhall Farmhouse 10.4.54

II*

Farmhouse, now house. Early C16, altered 1635, mid-C18, mid-C19 and mid-C20. Timber-framed, painted brick and rendered infill on sandstone base, brick replacement walling and additions, plain tiled roofs. Four framed bays and cross-passage bay aligned roughly north/south; large external sandstone chimneys to rear north-east and south gable end, former has three tall Cl7 star-shaped stacks with joint cap and the latter a large C18 brick stack; framed porch wing to west front elevation added in c1635 when west front was altered. Two storeys, attic and cellar. Framing: mainly close-set vertical studding (two rows per storey); south service bay has three and four rows of square panels except for first floor of west front; north end of west front has jettied first floor on consoles; above are four attic gables (added c1635 for a fashionable galleried effect) and which have decorative concave lozenge panels; the porch wing has herringbone panels above first floor level; collar and tie-beam trusses with struts throughout. West front elevation: the jettied part left of the porch has two ground floor 4-light casements and a 3-light and a 4-light first floor casement; the windows in the attic "gallery" have been blocked now that this is no longer used; the attic gables have decoratively carved bargeboards and pendant finials; at the far left is a door with six raised and fielded panels; the service bay to the right of the porch wing has a 3-light ground floor casement with plank weathering and a 2-light and a 4-light first floor casement; the porch wing has a small C19 canted bay window with moulded cornice to the right of the ground floor and a 2-light first floor casement with a plank weathering; left of the bay window is an open passageway to the C20 main entrance door, and on the right side of the passageway is an original bench with turned legs. At the right side of the porch wing is a C19 lean-to and a tall brick stack. Interior: two first floor rooms have Jacobean oak panel- ling one room of which also has an arcaded chimneypiece and a decoratively carved frieze. C19 wing at north gable end; C19 and C20 additions at rear. The extreme south end of the original building was a smoke bay which was later incorproated into the service bay. The date of the Cl7 alterations is inscribed on a rainwater hopper head at the centre of the attic "gallery". (VCH 3(i), p 111-2; BoE, p 95; FWB & Mary Charles, Conservation of Timber Buildings, 1984, p 100 and 234-5).

Listing NGR: SO9902460824