Nine Elms Farmhouse

Nine Elms Farmhouse

A former farmhouse of two storeys and attics built on a three-cell lobby-entrance plan. The building is timber-framed and rendered externally with 20th-century rough-cast render. It has a steeply-pitched and gabled roof covered in long-straw thatch. The main axis runs approximately east-west, with an axial chimney stack offset to the east. The stack is mostly red brick, but has been rebuilt in gault brick above the ridge-line. Attached to the west gable is a later, lower one-storey-and-attic service range, possibly a bakehouse, with an internal gable chimney whose red brick is exposed in the gable wall.

The north elevation has mixed fenestration scattered across it: two original mullioned windows (of four and five lights) flanking a 20th-century casement at first-floor level; on the ground floor are four casements of one, two and three lights and a three-over-three pane sash window with architrave. The western extension has a doorway and three-light casement with a two-light attic window above set in a gabled dormer. The south elevation has a three-window range of two-light casements with glazing bars and two four-pane sashes, all 20th-century replacements, with a similarly-detailed smaller two-light casement in the western range. The half-glazed entrance door opposite the chimney stack is set under a tiled porch roof on straight brackets. At the north-east corner of the main range is a new two-storey extension, oak-framed, externally rendered with a red clay plain-tiled roof and a tall axial red brick chimney stack with three diagonally-set linked shafts.

Interior

The building displays extensively exposed timber framing of good quality, with close studding set on a sole-plate and low plinth. The roof over the main range has a clasped-purlin roof with nailed-on curved wind-bracing and a part-ceiling above collar level to the centre section. The roof over the later addition is of less quality, with every fourth rafter having a deep collar clasping a light purlin.

The parlour lies to the east of the stack, defined by tie-beams tenoned into storey posts at the stack and east gable wall. These ties support a central bridging beam with unstopped chamfers, which may be a replacement. Wall studs are tenoned into a mid-rail set just below the junction of the tie-beam and storey-post. On the south side the mid-rail has been interrupted to allow insertion of a new sash window. A red brick fireplace, partly rebuilt with a renewed bressummer, occupies the stack wall. Above in the parlour chamber, a bridging beam has ogee stops to the chamfer. Evidence survives of a six-light diamond-mullioned window with shutter groove in the north wall, though partly obscured by replacement of a substantial section of the window head. A good fireplace with chamfers to the brick reveals and bressummer is present. The south wall-plate is much-renewed. The tops of the storey-posts are jowled but show no evidence of bracing.

The hall, west of the chimney, is now subdivided by modern partitioning but is two bays wide. It has a central tie-beam with unstopped chamfers supporting a two-section bridging beam. The first-floor joists are exposed and set on edge. A blocked central doorway leads into the service room to the west, but no visible evidence of a former cross-passage survives. The service room has first-floor joists set on-edge and running parallel to the ridge line. Much of the partitioning and framing to the south of this area has been introduced or renewed.

At first-floor level above the chimney stack bay is defined by arch-braced and cambered tie-beams. There is no fireplace in the room to the west of the stack, and the fireplace in the parlour chamber is housed in an apparent addition to the original chimney. The ground floor of the added service room to the west is lower; it contains a red brick fireplace, extensively rebuilt, set in a stack-bay defined by an arch-braced tie-beam spanning between storey-posts. The tie-beam is set slightly above the level of the inserted upper floor which is pierced by the braces. A straight-flight service stair of triangular-section solid treads nailed to two runners occupies the north-east corner. The rise of the stair relates to the storey-height of the service room in the earlier range (starting from the earlier, higher floor level), but the stair appears to have been re-sited and re-used, cutting across a blocked mullioned window.

History and Development

The framing and plan-form suggest an early 17th-century date. The lower service range to the west, possibly a bakehouse, is a later addition probably of the late 17th century, and its construction necessitated revision of the access arrangements to the upper service floors. The main axial chimney has been modified to provide an additional fireplace in the parlour chamber. The present lobby-entrance plan may reflect mid-17th-century uprating of an earlier arrangement, but no visible evidence currently supports this.

Significance

This is a good-quality, significant timber-framed farmhouse of the early 17th century which survives largely in its original form and substantially complete. The lobby-entrance plan may be a later modification, but there is no discernible evidence of an earlier cross-passage arrangement, although alterations and repairs to the framing have occurred. The use of close-studding for the parlour and its upper chamber is noteworthy, indicating a house of high status. The solid-tread service stair is an interesting survival, although no longer in its original location. A late 17th-century addition to the west and some work to correct structural problems in the south wall have been undertaken.