Merton Manor Farm

Merton Manor Farm is a farmhouse dating to the early to mid-16th century, with later 16th-century additions to the east wing and 19th-century extensions. The house is timber-framed, with the frame exposed at the front and rendered on the sides and rear, and has a plain tiled roof. A brick ridge stack, originally 18th century, has been cut down above the ridge. Each crosswing features a projecting brick stack, rendered and with rebuilt upper courses. The original layout comprised a hall range and west crosswing, with an east crosswing added in the late 16th century, creating a double-ended hall house. The hall range has three bays and two storeys, featuring three modern windows with nine panes on the first floor, and a doorway to the cross-passage. There are some inserted timbers in the front wall, and the main posts at each end of the hall mark the original gable ends. The west crosswing juts out to the north and south, with exposed jetty joists at the south end supported by shaped brackets. The fenestration to both ground and first floors is modern, though a ground-floor ovolo mullion window is visible in the north wall. The east crosswing, built in the late 16th century, also juts out at the south end with similar joists and brackets to the west crosswing, and was extended in the 19th century to the east and northeast.

Inside, the original hearths in the hall have been removed from the ground floor, though the stack remains visible in the roof. The west crosswing hearth has been remodelled, and there is some inserted framing. The east crosswing has deep, chamfered main beams and flat-laid joists. On the first floor in this wing, a raised tie beam with arch bracing, moulded to two collars, and long, shallow wall bracing is present. The roof is of clasped side purlin construction, with some rebuilding over the hall. The west crosswing has wind bracing to the roof. A cellar is located under the east crosswing. The house originally stood on a moated site. Historically, it served as the bailiff’s house of the manor of Merton, but was leased from 1362. It was leased to Thomas Byrd in 1491 and to Richard Clarke of Potton in 1522, who may have been responsible for much of the current structure.