Kingstons Farmhouse

TL 536 121 MATCHING Kingstons Farmhouse 3/36 (formerly listed as Kingstons) 22.2.52 GV II

Manor house, c.1580, altered in C17, C18 and C20. Timber framed, encased in red brickwork with some blue headers, Flemish bone, roofed with handmade red clay tiles. Hall block aligned approx. NE-SW with 2 crosswings of 3 bays. Original axial chimney stack at SW end of hall block forming a service end lobby-entrance. External chimney stack at NE. Stair tower to SE of axial chimney stack. One-bay extension to SW, C18. Single storey bakehouse to SW, C18, originally free-standing, connected to house in C20. Extension to Se between stair tower and NE crosswing, C20, framed of re-used timber and jettied. 2 storeys. NW elevation, panelled flush door, 2 C20 casement windows, one bay with sliding glazed doors, C20. First floor, 3 C20 casement windows. 2 hipped dormers with C19/20 casements. Roof altered to a continuous NE-SW range over both crosswings, hipped at the SR only, with gables at the SE ends of the crosswings. Frame partly exposed internally. Jowled posts, curved tension bracing trenched inside studs. Mortices for diamond mullions in S wall, evidence of early type of glazed frieze window in NW wall of NE crosswing. N ground floor room, the original parlour, lined with original oak panelling, late C16. Hearth of room above this has brick depressed arch, jambs cut to double agee profile, originally plastered, now stripped. In the attic and roof- space. 2 collars made from original barge-boards, carved with serpentine cable design and lunettes. This is an unusually datable house, evidently built in the late 1570's or 1580's, when glazed windows were coming into use in the more prominent positions, accompanied by unglazed windows in the less prominent positions. The panelling and the carved design of the re-used bargeboards are consistent with this dating. The formation of a lobby-entrance between the 'hall' and the service end was archaic, shortly to be superseded in fashionable usage by the lobby-entrance giving direct access to the parlour. In the C17 the roof was rebuilt on a continuous alignment, with clasped purlin construction, allowing it to be used as attics. In the C18 a short extension with hipped roof was added at the SW end, the whole house was clad with brickwork, and the SE elevation became the fashionable entrance. Moated site. RCHM 7.

Listing NGR: TL5355612084