Farmhouse And Attached Barn At Ferny Hill Farm

Farmhouse and attached barn at Ferny Hill Farm

This is a farmhouse of the early 19th century with minor later alterations, attached to the east by a barn dating to the late 17th or early 18th century, which was relocated and reassembled in the early 19th century.

Materials and construction: The farmhouse is built of brick, painted and partially rendered, with a slate roof. The east wall of the farmhouse serves as the west wall of the timber-framed barn. The barn's timber framing is partially infilled with brick and has a weatherboarded exterior, with a roof of tile and slate.

Plan: The farmhouse comprises two storeys arranged in a rectangular plan of two bays, with a hipped roof and centrally placed chimney stack. A porch shelters the front door on the east end of the north elevation. The barn extends to the east in three bays, with a hipped roof at its west end where it meets the house. A lean-to addition to the south forms a porch and corridor linking the barn to the adjoining tea room.

Farmhouse exterior: The front elevation displays two twelve-paned sash windows on either side of a blind opening above two twelve-paned sash windows and a front door. Although symmetrical in appearance, the central window and blind opening are positioned to the east of the house's centre. The rear elevation is symmetrical, with two twelve-paned sash windows on the ground storey and two on the first floor. One window in the south elevation is unhorned; in the north elevation, only one window is horned.

Farmhouse interior: The ground floor contains an entrance hall with staircase and two living rooms with back-to-back fireplaces and arched alcoves. Neither fireplace retains its original surround or grate. The south-east room has a built-in cupboard with moulded architrave to the south of the fireplace. Its east wall is timber-framed and shared with the barn; its north wall, partitioning the entrance hall, is also timber-framed. The north window in the larger living room retains its folding shutters.

A winder stair rises from immediately west of the front door, crossing the central ground floor window. The landing rails feature stick balusters, while those on the closed string staircase are turned; the newel posts are also turned. The landing provides access to four first-floor rooms. All rooms, including the hall and landing, have moulded picture rails, and all doors are four-panelled with moulded architraves.

A stable block to the rear has been converted into a kitchen and linked to the house by a modern brick flat-roofed extension. These form a separate case (163287) and are not included in this listing.

Barn exterior: The north and south walls are weatherboarded above a brick plinth. The south slope of the roof is tiled, while the north slope and the roof over the lean-to attached to the south are both slate. The extension contains three small windows and two doors, including double doors providing direct access to the barn from the farmyard.

Barn interior: Much of the original timber framing survives intact, with some pieces retaining carpenters' marks. The wall posts are cut jowled, clasping wall plates and supporting tie beams, with braces between the wall posts and tie beams. Purlins are clasped between raking struts and rafters. The rafters are pegged at the ridge and support a ridge piece which appears to be a later insertion.

The east and west end walls employ box frame construction with substantial central posts rising to the tie beams. The west wall is infilled with brick, while the east is infilled with brick to mid-rail only and weatherboarded above. The east wall is shared with the neighbouring tea room, with a door positioned immediately north of the central post. The north and south walls contain evenly-placed studs above and below a chamfered mid-rail. The lean-to extension to the south is timber-framed with brick infill and a weatherboarded external wall on a brick plinth. There are no threshing doors to the south, only smaller double doors giving access to the farmyard. The threshing doors in the north wall are a modern replacement.

History: Ferny Hill Farm is associated with the Trent Park estate, established on land that formerly comprised part of Enfield Chase. In 1777 the Chase was enclosed by Act of Parliament, and the Trent Park estate was created shortly after from land granted to Dr Richard Jebb by George III. The farm does not appear on the enclosure award map. On stylistic grounds, the house may be dated to the early 19th century, while the barn appears to be late 17th or early 18th century in origin. As the barn is absent from the enclosure award map, it most likely has been moved from another location and reassembled. The farmstead appears to have been established in the early 19th century as a planned ensemble, serving as an ornamental feature of the Trent Park estate. The Ordnance Survey map of 1878 shows the house attached to the north-west corner of an enclosed courtyard farm with substantial barns to the north and a narrow entrance to the south-east. Subsequent historic maps demonstrate that until 1935 the footprint of buildings around the farmyard remained fairly constant, but since then there have been alterations to the south and east ranges in particular, and additions to the west. The only addition to the house itself is the porch over the front door, added between 1878 and 1898.