Fowler's Farmhouse is a Grade II listed building in the Central Bedfordshire local planning authority area, England. First listed on 2 January 1985. House. 2 related planning applications.
Fowler's Farmhouse
- WRENN ID
- pale-chalk-barley
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- Central Bedfordshire
- Constituency
- Hitchin MP: Alistair Strathern (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 2 January 1985
- Type
- House
- Address
- Fowler's Farmhouse, 26 and 28, High Street, Meppershall
- OS grid reference
- TL 138 365
- Coordinates
- 52.01609, -0.3425
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
Fowler's Farmhouse is a house dating from the late 16th century, with alterations made in the early 19th century. It has a timber-framed structure, with the front and side walls mostly covered in 19th-century red brick, while the rear wall has been partly rebuilt in brick. The roofs are made of clay tiles, featuring fishscale tiles on the front elevation of the central block. The building has an H-plan layout and is two storeys high.
The front elevation showcases 19th-century casement windows with glazing bars set under rendered flat arches, and there is a gabled central porch. Both side elevations of the cross-wings have substantial external chimney stacks, primarily made of early brick. Visible timber-framing includes the main jowled corner posts of both wings at the front and rear, as well as tall-panel wall framing on the outer walls of the wings. There is a single-storey lean-to addition at the rear.
Inside, the right wing features internal wall framing, and there are chamfered bridging beams throughout, including crossed beams in the hall range that support both the hall ceiling and the bedroom above. The main elements of the roof are intact, with most purlins, some principal rafters, interrupted queen post trusses, and some framing in the left front and right rear gables, although these are obscured by the early 19th-century walling, which serves as a covering rather than a replacement. An open fireplace is present on the ground floor of the right wing.
This farmhouse is significant as a late 16th-century timber-framed structure that underwent early 19th-century modifications, including the addition of a new front wall, a new stack in the hall, and a kitchen behind it. However, the essential elements of the timber frame and roof remain, along with the complete H-plan form, which includes a central hall and an upper chamber, both featuring crossed bridging beams. Additional notable features include an open fireplace, newel stairs, and jowelled corner posts.
Local climate
Fowler's Farmhouse sits in a drier-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 710 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 88% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 81% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 34 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 51% of listed buildings. Of these, 16 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- Full EPC report — heating system, energy costs, size, glazing, construction etc.
- No sale records on file
- Related listed building consents — 2 applications
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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