The Rookery

EARL STONHAM FEN LANE TM 15 NW 5/94 The Rookery(formerly listed - as Rookery Farmhouse) 9-12-55 - II

Farmhouse, early C16 with alterations of c.1600. A 3-cell Wealden open-hall house. 2 storeys. Timber-framed and plastered; both end cells are jettied at the front, with the recessed open hall between. Concrete tiled roof (formerly plaintiled), with an early C17 axial chimney of buff brick and an attached second flue of late C17/C18 in red brick. C20 casements. 6-panelled early C19 entrance door at cross-entry position. The 2-bay open hall has a crownpost roof: the open truss has a cambered arch-braced tie-beam; one of the pilaster shafts with ornate carving survives beneath an archbrace, and the central crownpost has an octagonal shaft with moulded capital and base and 4- way braces (one missing). The lateral braces are not fixed to the collar and are purely decorative. Good arch wind-braced close-studding. Light smoke staining in the hall roof; evidence for a ridge louvre. Circa 1600, an upper floor was inserted into the hall, with chamfered joists. A large open fireplace in the hall has pink/gault brickwork and backs onto the cross- passage; it may predate the inserted floor. A service wing was added to rear of the parlour cell c.1600, with large axial chimney and plain framing with butt-purlin roof.

Listing NGR: TM1026258787