Reynolds Farm

Reynolds Farm is a former farmhouse built on a moated site. The core is a substantial late 16th- or 17th-century house, with the northern bay likely contemporary or slightly later. The building underwent alterations in the later 19th century and around 1900, when a north-east wing and porch were added along with associated internal changes.

Materials and Construction

The core of the house is built in limestone rubble with freestone quoins, patched or replaced in places with brick. The upper floor of the south gable wall is rebuilt in brick and rendered. The entire roof has been rebuilt and is clad in red concrete tiles. The circa 1900 wing is constructed in red brick laid in Flemish bond and has been cement rendered at a later date, with tile roofs.

Plan and Layout

The main range is three bays wide and two storeys high. Attached to the central bay is a prominent single-bay, three-and-a-half-storey gabled wing which externally resembles a stair bay. This wing may be slightly later in date than the main range. Both this gabled wing and the southern wing are built over a cellar, now reached from beneath the gabled bay. Blocked stairs rise in the south-west angle of the cellar beneath the main range.

The northernmost bay of the main range is of similar construction but may be slightly later. It was subsequently altered internally. Attached to this bay is a single-storey gabled kitchen/scullery wing and a small late 19th-century conservatory. A large internal stack rises through the house to the north of the projecting gabled bay. To the south-west of the stack, a newel stair survives to first floor level. To the north-east of the stack at first floor level, there appears to have been a small closet.

Around 1900, an entrance hall was created in the north bay of the house, and a two-storey wing and porch to the north-east were added to provide a large drawing room and additional bedrooms. The current stairs were installed in the mid-20th century.

Exterior

The south face of the southern range, in two storeys and two irregular bays, has first floor 20th-century timber casements beneath timber lintels, as elsewhere in the house. A continuous timber beam or lintel is exposed at first floor level, interrupted by an inserted 20th-century door opening. The gable wall has irregularly placed two-light 20th-century timber casements. On the north elevation is a 19th-century three-over-six pane ground floor sash window, and at first floor a two-light timber casement and a small closet window of early date.

The single-bay gabled wing is symmetrically treated as the centrepiece of the house, with windows that diminish in scale from ground to upper floors. At ground floor level is a four-light ovolo-moulded window with later rectangular leaded panes. At lower level is the head of an opening blocked by accumulated ground level. Upper floor windows, as elsewhere in the house, are replaced timber casements under chamfered timber lintels, but here they reflect the graduated scale of the original openings; internally the original lintels are visible. The south-facing elevation of the bay has small single-light windows. The cellar ceiling is of very broad planks.

Beneath the eaves of the north wing is a late 17th- or early 18th-century small metal-framed casement window in a moulded internal architrave. It has lozenge-leaded panes and its original catch. The main entrance, in the north-facing gable wall, has a framed plank door in a simple moulded architrave with a chamfered lintel and beneath a deep moulded canopy. It is flanked by a six-over-six pane sash in a flush stone surround and keystone. The upper floors each have a single timber casement. The circa 1900 wing has two-over-two paned horned sashes, on the ground floor beneath segmental arches, and a gable end brick stack.

Interior

The principal ground floor room, which unusually includes the single gabled bay, has a large basket-headed-arched, chamfered stone fireplace. To the left is a small bread oven. This wing, divided into two rooms of unequal size, has a substantial ceiling in two equal bays with a chamfered spine beam and joists with moulded chamfer stops. The ovolo-moulded window, which has been repaired internally, has evidence of the original saddle bars. The sash window on the north-east wall has panelled linings and shutters. The stair is now enclosed at lower level and disused. It has a chamfered newel post visible at first floor level, where some of the steps also survive, leading to a chamfered door head which opens to the first floor corridor.

On the first floor, the principal chamber has a moulded stone chimneypiece in 16th-century manner and a chamfered spine beam. To the right of the fireplace is a blocked doorway, probably giving onto a small closet. Rooms at the southern end of this wing were altered when the south gable was rebuilt. Although the roof has been replaced, at attic level internal lath and plaster walls remain in situ. The northern wing has been altered internally but has a slender, and therefore slightly later, ground floor chamfered spine beam, and at first floor level a more robust chamfered spine beam and broad plank floors.

The entrance hall has an early to mid-20th-century timber chimneypiece with a bracketted mantelshelf and a vertically boarded dado, which was cut through, probably when the stairs were altered. The mid-20th-century stairs rise opposite the entrance, dividing to serve the original house and circa 1900 wings, and have square newels and turned balusters. The single-storey kitchen/scullery wing has a late 19th- or early 20th-century fireplace. Doors throughout range from probably 17th- or 18th-century plank doors with strap hinges and latches, such as the stair to the attic, to later 19th-century replicas and 20th-century four-panel doors.

The circa 1900 wing has an early 20th-century classically inspired timber chimneypiece and grate with tiled slips, moulded cornices and skirtings, and four-panel doors. Windows have panelled linings and shutters. At first floor is a moulded timber fireplace.

Historical Context

Reynolds Farmhouse is built on a large moated site to the south-east of Cassington Church. It has also been known as Moat Farm. It appears to date from the late 16th or 17th century, was altered during the 19th century, while the north-east wing and porch were added around 1900 when other alterations were made to the house.

The moated site has not been excavated but has been recorded during a field survey. The island (approximately 60 by 40 metres) is surrounded by a ditch on three sides which is in places up to 30 metres wide. The water-filled moat is visible on three sides where it is approximately 2 metres wide and approximately 1 metre deep. The outer bank is stone-faced. A mound, thought to represent the footings of the former manor house and lying approximately 20 metres east of Reynolds Farmhouse, was also noted. To the south are three former fishponds and fish stews surviving as earthworks, approximately 80 by 25 metres and 25 by 5 metres in area. Outside the moat and approximately 30 metres north-west of the Reynolds Farmhouse is a rectangular dovecote, probably 17th century in date and listed Grade II, and a later, probably 19th-century, small barn or cart shed.