Parsonage Farmhouse

Farmhouse, dating from the 13th century or earlier, with significant alterations in the 16th and 17th centuries. The left section is painted brick, with a gable end of mixed bond red and grey brick. The right section is rendered flint and chalk rubble with broad mortar joints, extending to an undercroft, with painted mathematical tiles to the first floor. The first floor of the right gable end is tile-hung, and the roof is tiled. The undercroft section likely dates to the 13th century or earlier, with a timber-framed first floor above, comprising two bays rebuilt in the 16th century. A wider 17th-century addition was made to the left, consisting of two timber-framed bays and a gable stack bay.

The building is two storeys high, with the left section taller. A plat band is present on the left section, and a continuous jetty on the right. The left section’s roof is gabled on both ends, while the right section’s roof is hipped to the right. A multiflue brick stack sits on the front slope of the roof at the left end of the left section. The fenestration is irregular, featuring a tripartite sash towards the centre of the left section and two two-light horizontally-sliding sashes on the right. On the ground floor, a tripartite sash is found in the left section, and a four-pane sash to the left end of the right section. A panelled door with a flat hood is positioned at the right end of the left section, while a boarded door with a segmental head is at the left gable end. The right gable end has a blocked rectangular window with a stone jamb and head, featuring a plain-chamfered rectangular opening with a broach stop, located centrally on the undercroft wall. Red and grey brick lean-tos extend to the rear of each section, with a small, single-storey bakehouse projecting back at right angles from the left lean-to.

Inside, the undercroft has rendered chalk lump walls and evidence of a planned barrel vault, with a portion of the soffit visible at the right end. There are blocked rectangular stone loop lights, splayed internally, towards the right end and centre of the front wall. A blocked opening is situated to the right of the centre of the rear wall. The original vault has been replaced by a 16th-century ceiling with cross and axial beams. The first floor over the undercroft features gunstock-jowled principal posts and a common-rafter roof with lapped collars. The right section contains a chamfered axial beam on the ground floor and an aligned butt-purlin roof with collars, with some reused moulded 16th-century purlin lengths. A plank door with pin-and-ring hinges is present, and 17th-century style panelling is found beside a first-floor fireplace. The property was reportedly owned by Merton College Oxford from around 1270 to 1957.