Grange Farmhouse

WROXTON CHAPEL LANE SP 3941 (South side) Balscote Grange Farmhouse 9/176 (Formerly listed as The 08/12/55 Grange) GV Farmhouse. C15/C16 with C17 and C18 additions and alterations. South east elevation. Finely jointed, ironstone approaching ashlar and coursed, squared ironstone. Steeply pitched slate roofs. Brick ridge and end stacks. Situated end on to the road. Hall house, possibly originally of 2-unit plan with through passage and service, extended by the addition of a parlour, or possibly 3-unit plan from the outset with later alterations. 2 storeys. 4-window range. Entrance off-centre to right has a 4-centred arched stone doorway with weathered spandrels, hood mould and label stop. Renewed door. To right a 3-light window with opening casement. To left the large hall window of 2-lights, stone mullioned and transomed with a weathered, traceried square head. First floor has two C18 sash windows with wood lintels and a 3-light wood framed window with metal casement, wrought-iron casement fastener and wood lintel. Left part, slightly lower has a 2-light window with wood lintel and lead cames and a renewed window with a wood lintel. Attic has a metal casement with wrought-iron spring and wood lintel. Rear (north-west elevation). Entrance to through passage on left has a 4-centred arched doorway and renewed door. Entrance is flanked by a renewed C20 wood casement on left and a C18 sash on right. First floor has 3 sash window. Lower part on right has a panelled/glazed door and above a 3-light window with metal casement. Wood lintels. Bread oven bulge on gable to road. Interior: original plan of hall, through passage, kitchen and parlour survives. Walls average 2 feet 5 inches in thickness. Hall now ceiled over has joists spanning from a spine beam to lateral wall beams. Inglenook fireplace in hall is wide with chamfered bressumer, bread oven and inserted C20 brick fireplace. C16 stone fireplace, with chamfered jambs, in parlour. Stud partition. Stop-chamfered beam. Winder staircase. C17 additions included the fireplace and oven in the kitchen (formerly buttery and pantry) and possibly the hall fireplace which backs on to the through passage. In the C18 the walls of the hall and kitchen were raised to provide lofty rooms above, the C18 stair was inserted (probably replacing a C17 staircase) and the building was extended beyond the parlour to provide an extra service room at the lower end. C20 fireplace inserted within the C17 hall fireplace. Grange farmhouse was probably built by Wroxton Abbey in connection with its possessions at Balscott. in 1535 Richard Burden, a salaried official of the priory and general receiver of all its rents farmed Grange Farm. (VCH: Oxfordshire, Vol IX, p175; Buildings of England: Oxfordshire, 1974, p428; Wood-Jones, R.B., Traditional Domestic Architecture in the Banbury Region, 1963, p49-52 and plans, sections and elevations fig.10)

Listing NGR: SP3918041797