Battleswick Farmhouse

Battleswick Farmhouse

A timber-framed farmhouse of probable 16th-century origin, with 17th-, 18th-, 19th-, 20th- and 21st-century alterations and additions.

The 16th-century section has a close-studded timber frame clad with weatherboard on its north and east sides and painted plaster on its south side. The 17th- and late 18th-/early 19th-century additions are of painted plaster and brick. The stacks are of brick and the roofs covered with clay tiles.

The farmhouse is T-shaped on plan, aligned on a north-east to south-west axis. Its principal elevation faces north-east and is formed of three distinct elements: a two-storey range at the east end, a one-and-a-half storey central section (both weatherboarded), and a tall single-storey range with cross wings at the west end.

The ground floor of the two-storey range has a projecting gabled porch with a plank door to the right-hand side and a ten-over-ten unhorned sash to the left. On the first floor there are two two-light casements. The adjoining one-and-a-half storey range is a single bay with a deep plinth and a three-light casement. The single-storey section is set at a slightly lower ridge line than the central section and has a gabled cross wing projecting from its north face, also with a lower ridge line. Its north face has a central cross window while its left-hand wall has two similar windows, all with tiled lintels.

At the rear, the two-storey range is of painted plaster and has two external brick stacks. The right-hand stack is wider and rises in a single width, while the left-hand stack is narrower and tapers from a large base with offsets. A window to the left of the left-hand stack comprises a two-light casement to the ground floor and a two-light horizontal sliding sash to the first floor. The adjoining one-and-a-half storey range is weatherboarded with a stable door flanked to its right by a three-light casement, and a gabled dormer to the attic. To the left again, a gabled cross wing projects from the south wall of the single-storey range, with a blind south wall of painted brick and a two-light casement to the east wall.

The right-hand return comprises the gabled end wall of the single-storey range with flanking cross wings on each side, both projecting slightly with a lower ridge line. Both the gabled end wall and the right-hand cross wing have 20th-century casements. The left-hand return of the two-storey range is weatherboarded with a French window to the ground floor and a two-light casement to the first floor.

Interior

The one-and-a-half and two-storey sections display exposed sections of close-studded framing. The ground floor of the one-and-a-half storey range has a chamfered, axial ceiling beam with curved cyma step stops, supported at the east end by a replacement timber post; the flanking posts are original and display probable peg holes for a now-removed mid rail. The west end of the beam is set within a large fireplace which has a large timber bressumer, probably a reclaimed structural timber, and brickwork of three different phases of construction. The timbers forming the wall plate on the north side are joined by a side-halved scarf joint, while the wall plate on the south side is bowed, with fillets now added to the exposed ceiling beams on this side for strengthening purposes. At the south-east corner of the room's east wall, set beneath the staircase, is a blocked doorway with a four-centered head. To the attic there is a single bedroom with a cambered tie beam to the west wall and exposed close-studding to the east wall.

In the two-storey range, the two ground-floor rooms are divided by chamfered transverse ceiling beams with curved step stops and jowled posts. In the west-side room, the four-centered door head in the blocked doorway to the adjoining one-and-a-half storey range displays heavily chiselled carpenters' marks, while the wall in which it is set is of exposed close-studding. To the ceiling there is a large axial beam with curved step stops. The east-side room, which is entered through a six-panelled door (unlike the plank and batten doors fitted elsewhere), was remodelled in the late 18th-/early 19th-century. It has a dado rail, a corner display cupboard and a fluted wooden fire surround ornamented with a festoon and rosettes. Its axial ceiling beam has now been encased. Running parallel with the west wall is a wide transverse staircase, probably inserted here in the late 18th-/19th-century. Above, the two bedrooms both display exposed close-studding to their north walls, along with jowled posts and chamfered wall plates with curved step stops. In the east-side bedroom there is a cambered tie beam to the west wall and a wall plate with a side-halved scarf joint to the north wall. This room also has a possible garderobe door in the west wall.

The interior of the single-storey range at the west end has been much remodelled since it was built in the 17th century, including the addition of cross wings in the late 18th-/early 19th-century. Its external access is through an oversized plank and batten door, whose large proportions suggest that this section of the house may have originally had a non-domestic function. On the east side of the room, back-to-back with the fireplace in the adjoining one-and-a-half storey range, is a large 19th-century brick fireplace, probably concealing an earlier cooking hearth. Exposed sections of wall plate are also visible. The later cross wing on the south side, formerly the coal shed, was integrated into the main house in the 20th century. It has an exposed wall plate and a small section of studwork, though the ceiling joists are reclaimed timbers which were inserted here in the 20th century.