Farmhouse at Rooks Nest Farm is a Grade II* listed building in the East Hertfordshire local planning authority area, England. First listed on 20 October 1952. Farmhouse. 3 related planning applications.

Farmhouse at Rooks Nest Farm

WRENN ID
knotted-chalk-weasel
Grade
II*
Local Planning Authority
East Hertfordshire
Constituency
North East Hertfordshire MP: Chris Hinchliff (Lab)
Country
England
Date first listed
20 October 1952
Type
Farmhouse
Address
Farmhouse at Rooks Nest Farm, High Street, Walkern, SG2 7NS
OS grid reference
TL 286 258
Coordinates
51.91655, -0.13031
Source
Historic England listing

Also on this page: sale history · related consents · flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

Farmhouse at Rooks Nest Farm is a Grade II* listed house dating from the mid-17th century, with a later rear wing possibly built in 1701 and a brewhouse wing added in the 19th century. The front range is constructed of red brick in English bond, while the north side of the rear wing is timber framed and jettied, featuring brick infill with a coursed pattern below and a herring-bone pattern above the line of a former lean-to roof. The building has steep old red tile roofs and was originally designed as a two-storey house with an attic, featuring a cruciform layout, lobby entry, and a central chimney plan, likely with an earlier service wing at the rear.

The southern hall and northern parlour are complemented by a two-storey porch on one side and a stair turret on the opposite side of the central chimney. The rear wing, which is two storeys high, has a brick inscription reading 'RC 1701' on its southern wall and features a large former external chimney on its northern side, adjacent to the later four-bay brewhouse that projects to the north. The eastern front is symmetrical, showcasing a massive central chimney with four diagonal square shafts, a gabled porch with a three-light plastered brick mullioned window, and a wide square-headed chamfered doorway topped by a leaded fanlight. There are four-light mullioned and transomed leaded casement windows flanking the porch on both floors, along with a chamfered brick plinth and brick corbels at the ends of the front eaves. The southern gable includes three-light mullioned timber windows on the attic and two floors, set under segmental arches, while the rear wing has flush wooden casement windows.

Inside, the farmhouse features chamfered cross-beams, scratch-moulded paneling with upper lozenge-carved panels in the stair enclosure, and four-centred fireplaces in the southern room and the room above, along with a plastered fireplace with a fluted 18th-century cast iron basket grate in the northern room. The roof has clasped purlins with exposed curved wind braces in the stair turret. The staircase is adorned with elaborately moulded square finials and splat balusters at the landings.

Local climate

Farmhouse at Rooks Nest Farm sits in a drier-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 710 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 86% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 78% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 35 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 57% of listed buildings. Of these, 17 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

Sign in or create a free account to unlock:

  • No EPC on record for this property
  • Sale history — 1 transaction since 2008
  • Related listed building consents — 3 applications
  • Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
  • Flood risk assessment
  • Radon risk assessment
  • Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
Create free account

Matched applications, energy data and sale records are assembled automatically and may contain errors. Flag incorrect data.

Similar buildings

The closest matches to this building from all 493,000 UK listed buildings, by architecture, period and materials.

Nearby listed buildings

  1. 198, High Street Grade II 129 m
  2. Farmhouse at Finches Farm (Opposite Stevenage Road) Grade II 144 m
  3. 108, High Street Grade II 314 m
  4. Fairview Cottage Grade II 367 m
  5. 98, High Street Grade II 376 m
  6. Wh Shepherd, Butcher Grade II 392 m
  7. 96, High Street Grade II 398 m
  8. 65 and 67, High Street Grade II 400 m
  9. The Robin Hood Public House Grade II 408 m
  10. 82 and 86, High Street Grade II 448 m