Franklins Farmhouse

TL 41 SE MATCHING HOBBS CROSS ROAD 2/42 Franklins Farmhouse II

Farmhouse, late C16 and early Cl7. Timber framed, plastered, roofed with handmade red clay tiles. Short N-S block with chimney stack at N end, and 3-bay E-W block with axial chimney stack at E end of middle bay, forming an irregular T-plan. External chimney stack at W end. Lean-to extensions to N, C19, and in NE angle, C20. S elevation, 2 C20 casement windows, plain door with asbestos hood, gabled dormer with C20 casement window. Half-hipped at E and W ends. Frame partly exposed internally. N-S block much altered,but apparently comprises 1½ bays, the internal tie beam removed, with jowled posts. In the E wall there is an original doorhead with flat top between 2 short-radius curves, and a recessed panel with an inscription IOHN HA and a rebus, then ANNO DOMENOE 1583 (all the Ns and figure 3 reversed), the aperture below now blocked, and a doorway to the S of it. An original doorway with plain head leading into the E-W block is blocked. In the E-W block an arched brace rising from the SE corner post to the wallplate is visible through the wall covering, inside the studs. The roof is of clasped purlin construction, with curved wind-bracing visible through the plaster. In the N wall of the W bay there is an unglazed window with 3 diamond mullions in situ, blocked. In the middle bay there is an inserted floor with axial beam, plain chamfered with bar stops, the joists of vertical section, plain chamfered and supported on pegged clamps, with an original stair trap in the NE corner, fully pegged and chamfered. The development of this building is unclear on present evidence. The frame of the N-S block is largely exposed, but most of the E-W block is lathed and plastered internally, with no recent disturbance. Canon J. L. Fisher stated that the name derives from Eustace le Franklin, recorded in 1200, and several generations of that name, and that the inscription relates to John Haver who held the freehold in 1583 (History of Harlow, ed. L. H. Bateman, 1969, p.57).

Listing NGR: TL4907910617