Abbot's Farmhouse is a Grade II listed building in the Braintree local planning authority area, England. First listed on 12 November 1984. A 17th century House.

Abbot's Farmhouse

WRENN ID
cold-wicket-elm
Grade
II
Local Planning Authority
Braintree
Constituency
Braintree MP: Sir James Cleverly (Con)
Country
England
Date first listed
12 November 1984
Type
House
Address
Abbot's Farmhouse, Alphamstone
OS grid reference
TL 869 347
Coordinates
51.98005, 0.72143
Source
Historic England listing

Also on this page: flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

Abbot's Farmhouse is a house dating from the early 17th century, which has been altered in a Picturesque style and extended in the early 19th century. The building is timber framed and clad with flint and red brick, topped with a roof of handmade red clay tiles. It consists of three bays aligned northeast to southwest, featuring a central chimney stack. There is a two-storey lean-to extension on the northwest side and a single-storey extension beyond it. To the northeast and southeast, there are two-storey brick extensions that form a T-plan. A slate-roofed porch is located at the southern angle.

On the southwest elevation of the main block, there is a two-window range of Gothick sashes with interlaced tracery under two-centred heads, featuring crown glass. Above this, there are two blind loops and an asymmetrical gable with a moulded parapet. In the southeast extension, there is one sash window with 12 lights and one with 16 lights on each floor, also with crown glass. All the windows date from the early 19th century, while the door is from the 20th century. The right return of the main block has a crenellated parapet, and there are two chimney stacks with grouped diagonal shafts.

Inside the original block, there are jowled posts, chamfered beams with lamb's tongue stops, and a clasped purlin roof. The building was formerly known as Ivy Cottage and was likely the manor held by the Abbot of Edmundsbury, situated on a moated site.

Local climate

Abbot's Farmhouse sits in one of the driest parts of the UK, with an average of 690 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 98% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 72% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 28 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 70% of listed buildings. Of these, 14 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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