Dunstead'S Farmhouse

Dunstead's Farmhouse

This timber-framed farmhouse, built around 1400, has been altered and extended substantially over five centuries. It is roofed with handmade red clay tiles and plastered.

The main range faces south-west and comprises a two-bay hall with a late 16th-century axial stack in the shorter right bay and a parlour-solar bay to the left. The original service end to the right has been demolished and replaced by a large 20th-century extension, partly weatherboarded. An early 17th-century two-bay extension stands in front of the parlour-solar bay, with an internal stack at the junction. An early 19th-century cross-wing extends to the left of this extension and the main range. The building stands two storeys high. Three extensions are situated to the rear, one being a single-storey lean-to and the others two storeys, one with a flat roof.

The left elevation of the early 19th-century cross-wing has on the first floor one original window of two casements with six lights and six fixed lights, featuring chamfered mullions and a jointed and pegged frame, and one similar window with one casement replaced. To the rear of the solar is an 18th-century casement of three plus nine plus three lights. All other windows are 20th-century casements. A 20th-century half-glazed door with sidelights is set in the 20th-century extension.

Interior

The main range contains jowled posts and heavy studding with curved braces trenched to the outside. The rear wall of the hall is exposed but much altered, with the post of the open truss severed about three metres above ground level; only three original studs remain below the girt and none above it, though some timbers have been reused to form a staircase gallery. A late 16th-century inserted floor in the left bay comprises a chamfered axial beam and chamfered joists of vertical section with lamb's tongue stops supported on pegged clamps, finished with wide rebated hardwood boards.

A wide wood-burning hearth features two L-shaped recesses in the rear wall, with the right recess retaining an original rebated wooden frame—a rare survival. The mantel beam has been replaced and the jambs and brickwork above have been rebuilt in the 20th century. At the left end of the hall, the high-end partition is intact, with peg-holes for a fixed bench and a blocked doorway at the front end. Above the inserted floor are curved display braces (one restored) and much original wattle and daub infill.

A steeply cambered tie-beam in the open truss is chamfered in two orders with one original chamfered brace 0.11 metres wide. The rear end has been severed to clear the staircase gallery and one curved brace has been introduced. The original cross-entry to the right of the stack is now a bathroom with all framing concealed.

In the parlour-solar bay some of the original plain joists of horizontal section remain, though raised about 0.10 metres; others have been replaced. There is some evidence of a former stair-trap in the rear left corner. In the front wall on the upper storey, a section of original wattle and daub is exposed behind glass. The rear wallplate is splinted with forelock bolts.

Much of the roof of the hall has been rebuilt in the 20th century, leaving two rafter couples and collars at the left end. The rear wallplate has been severed at the same point to clear the staircase gallery. The surviving portions are heavily smoke-blackened from the wood fire of the open hall, with shadows of the former collar-purlin and an empty mortice for an axial brace to it. The apices of the rafters are charred on their upper surfaces, suggesting burning thatch. The panels of wattle and daub in the partition to the left have been scrubbed to remove some smoke-blackening, and some panels replaced with clean wattle and daub, indicating that the fire occurred no later than the 16th century.

The crownpost roof of the solar bay is almost intact except for a missing axial brace at the right end; at the left end the collar-purlin is tenoned to the hip rafter of an original gablet hip. The early 17th-century wing to the front has primary straight bracing and heavy studding with unjowled posts, a chamfered axial beam with run-out stops, plain joists of vertical section, and original butt-edged hardwood floorboards. The roof features a clasped purlin with curved wind-bracing.

A wide wood-burning hearth in this section has 0.33-metre jambs and a chamfered mantel beam with plain stops which do not coincide with the jambs, indicating second use. In the rear left corner is an inserted bread oven. The upper part of the stack blocks an unglazed window in the front wall of the solar.

In the early 19th-century cross-wing to the left, heavy oak joists have been introduced in the 20th century. On the upper floor is an original five-panel door to a closet with the top panel glazed.

Historical Context

Dunstead's Farm is documented in the Petre archives as Besses, Byggs and Hylls Farm. A survey of 1556 records a house measuring 42 by 20 feet and 13 feet high to the eaves, partly tiled, with a stable, sheton, barn and a holding of 30 acres. The court roll of 1555 records that Edward Brown, glazier, failed to repair the timber and thatch of his tenement, which may relate to the accidental fire damage noted in the building fabric. The house is illustrated in the Walker map of 1601 as a single two-storey range with a door to the right of centre, a brick stack immediately to its left, one window on each floor to the right of the door and two windows on each floor to the left, with a tiled roof. This appears to correspond with the present house before the early 17th-century wing was added to the front. At about that date it passed from the occupation of John Cliff, gent, to William Tublyn. In 1614 it was mentioned in the will of W Tublyn.