The Old Farmhouse, 2 Gardeners Cottage and The Gables, Style Place Farm (also known as Caxton Place)

This former farmhouse has possible medieval or 16th-century origins, though the present building was largely constructed from around 1600 in four main phases during the 17th century. It underwent refurbishment and alterations in the 18th and 19th centuries. A cottage was added to the north between 1894 and 1897 and extended before 1908. Further extensions and internal alterations took place in the 1980s and 1990s.

Materials and Construction

The farmhouse originally consisted of four timber-framed ranges built in different phases. The walls were subsequently infilled or refaced with red brick to the ground floor and peg-tile to the first floor. However, the entire front elevation was refaced in red brick laid in Flemish bond with decorative use of burnt headers in the 18th century. The late-19th-century cottage features matching brickwork, and all ranges have red peg-tile roof coverings.

Plan and Development

The farmhouse follows an L-shaped plan with two storeys and attics, built in four main phases during the 17th century. The main part, oriented north-south, comprises a north queen-post range built around 1600 and a south range constructed in about the mid- to late 17th century. The queen-post range may possibly have 16th-century origins, as indicated by diamond mullion mortices, and the south range may have replaced a medieval hall. These combined ranges subsequently formed one long lobby entry central chimney house. On the ground floor this probably included, from north to south, an unheated room, a parlour, a kitchen and another unheated room, whilst on the first floor there were several chambers.

Attached to the east side of the house are two parallel 17th-century rear cross-wings, each one room deep. The farmhouse was later divided into two properties, known as The Old Farmhouse and 2 Gardeners Cottage, whilst a cottage was built adjoining the north end of the farmhouse in the late 19th century and is now known as The Gables.

Exteriors

Main West Front

The main west front of the farmhouse is five bays long: four bays of the original two-storey central chimney house and a late-19th-century single-storey gabled extension forming an additional fifth bay at the south. From left to right it comprises a three-light multi-pane uPVC window to each floor, a hooded doorcase beneath a 16-pane uPVC window, and then three-light multi-pane uPVC windows to each floor of the next two bays followed by a 16-pane uPVC window to the single-storey extension. The windows are set in square-headed openings with rubbed brick voussoirs.

The front doorcase has a false Regency-style fanlight and moulded pilasters supporting a flat hood on shaped consoles. It contains a 19th-century six-panelled door with glazed upper panels. The roof is hipped to the north and carried down over a later outshot, and half hipped to the south. An enormous red brick chimney rises above the centre of the farmhouse. The 1890s cottage is attached to the north-west corner of the farmhouse.

South and East Elevations

The upper portion of the south elevation of the farmhouse and rear cross-wing is faced in peg-tile. It comprises a six-over-six timber sash window with side lights to the gable end of the single-storey office, a 19th-century three-panelled door to the porch, and then two two-light windows to the ground floor and a single-light window to the first floor of the outer rear cross-wing, which is set on a ragstone plinth.

The east elevation of this cross-wing has large timber-framed panels filled with brick nogging, a later door opening inserted to the ground floor, a three-light uPVC window to the first floor and a two-light timber window to the attic. The adjacent cross-wing has a 20th-century doorway and a three-light uPVC window to the ground floor and a two-light casement window to the first floor.

The north end of the east elevation of the farmhouse now serves as the garden front to 2 Gardeners Cottages. There are two 16-pane uPVC windows and a wooden doorway to the ground floor and two uPVC windows to the tile-hung first floor. Attached to the north end is a later outshot and chimney stack.

The Gables (1890s Cottage)

The 1890s cottage, now known as The Gables, that adjoins the north end of the farmhouse has its main front facing south and largely matches the treatment of the main façade of the farmhouse, although the elevation rises higher. It is two bays long and two storeys high, built of red brick laid in Flemish bond with decorative use of burnt headers and a brick plinth. There is an eight-over-eight timber sash window and half-glazed door to the ground floor and two six-over-six timber sashes to the first floor. The windows are set in square-headed openings with rubbed brick voussoirs and the doorway contains a semi-circular fanlight. It has a gabled peg-tile covered roof.

At the west gable end of the cottage, which was altered in the early 1990s, is a central chimney stack flanked by narrow 1990s four-over-four timber sashes to each floor. There are two gabled cross-wings attached to the rear of the cottage: one initially added in the 1900s but subsequently rebuilt or altered in around 1980 and the 1990s, and another newly built in the 1990s. These cross-wings are built of brick with a tile facing to the first floor. The west cross-wing has two eight-over-eight timber sashes to each floor. The east elevation of each cross-wing is blank without any openings, but there is a further single-storey 2002 gabled extension projecting from the easternmost wing which has sash windows and a half-glazed doorway. There are further sashes to the south elevation of the easternmost cross-wing.

Interiors

2 Gardeners Cottage (North Queen-Post Range)

The former farmhouse is now divided into two properties addressed 2 Gardeners Cottage and The Old Farmhouse. The main entrance on the west front leads into the queen-post range that forms the northern half of the farmhouse, now 2 Gardeners Cottage. This was the former lobby entrance situated next to the central chimney of the house. There were probably two chambers on this floor: the former parlour, now a lounge, and an unheated room, now a kitchen, which are divided by large panelling set on a plinth.

The former parlour has large chamfered joists with step stops to the ceiling joined into a substantial axial beam. There is an inglenook fireplace with a chamfered bressummer beam. The former unheated end room has a chamfered and step-stopped axial beam that may once have been the head beam of a partition. Most of the north external wall has been removed and the modern kitchen extends into the later outshot on this side of the house. However, the close-set infilled slots or mortices for the wooden diamond mullions of a former window can be seen in the end beam. A doorway with fielded side panels appears to have originally led into the adjacent cottage, added in the 1890s, but has been blocked and converted into a bookcase.

Next to the end room is a late-17th- or early-18th-century winder stair with a balustrade to the landing which has a facetted teardrop-shaped finial. At the top of the stairs large panelling and studding can be seen to the end wall and includes the wide-set wooden diamond mullions of a former window. There are now two bedrooms and a bathroom on the first floor. The main bedroom has a chamfered and scroll-stopped axial beam and contains a fireplace with a register grate. Within a cupboard in the bathroom can be seen a daub wall.

The Old Farmhouse (South Range)

The entrance to the mid- to late-17th-century range forming the southern half of the farmhouse, now called The Old Farmhouse, is via the late-19th-century porch at the south which leads to the ground floor corridor and staircase. Also opening off the porch is a late-19th-century office, which contains a plain segmental-headed brick fireplace and exposed chimney stack. There were originally two rooms in this range: the former kitchen, now a drawing room, and an unheated room, now a dining room.

The former kitchen has a stone-paved floor and a large inglenook fireplace with a bressummer beam to the central chimney, which also contains a bread oven. The joists to the ceiling are joined to a substantial plain chamfered axial beam. A 19th-century straight-flight staircase leads up to the first floor of this range where there are two bedrooms and a bathroom. There are several plank and batten doors within the farmhouse which may date back as early as the 17th century.

The southernmost rear cross-wing now has a sitting room and utility room leading off a stone-paved passageway. The sitting room has a ceiling with square joists morticed into a large plain-chamfered axial beam supported by iron columns. The original stone plinth and some of the large square panelling is visible to the walls. On the first floor a corridor leads to a modern bathroom and a bedroom where there is exposed framing with studding to one of the walls and an exposed ceiling with an axial beam and joists. A winder stair above the main staircase leads to the attic of this wing where there is more exposed framing, early daub partitions, and a replaced 20th-century roof structure.

The northernmost rear cross-wing now contains a modern kitchen but there is some exposed timber framing to the ground floor and a bedroom and modern bathroom to the first floor. There are jowled principal posts to the first floor and a clasped purlin roof structure with queen struts.

The Gables Interior

The cottage known as The Gables is one room deep to the main range and two rooms deep to each of the later extensions. The main entrance leads into a hallway adjacent to a sitting room. There is a dining room, office, kitchen, bathroom and utility room to the rear extensions. A winder staircase leads up to the first floor where there are four bedrooms and a bathroom.