Rigden Farm

Rigden Farm is a former farmhouse, now a private house, that has evolved over several centuries. The core of the building is a mid-16th century eastern bay, which was extended to the northwest and south in the early 17th century, and then westwards by two bays in the 18th century. A northeast service extension was added after 1871, the east wall was rebuilt around 1900, and a 20th-century porch was added. The flat-roofed 20th-century extension to the north and lean-to conservatory to the west are not of special interest.

Materials and Construction

The eastern bay, together with the northwest and south additions, is timber-framed. Some of the timber frame with brick infill is visible to the northwest, but externally the building is mainly tile-hung to the south and refronted in painted brick to the east. The western two bays are of brick, now painted. The roof is tiled, with a tall ridge stack where the early and later wings join, and another stack in the south wall.

Plan

The eastern bay is the remaining section of what was either a smoke bay or an early chimney house. This was later extended by one bay to the northwest, with a south staircase tower and additional south rooms added on each floor. In the 18th century, a two-bay parlour wing was built to the west, possibly replacing an earlier structure.

Exterior

The south, or entrance, front has a tiled roof at two different heights. The earliest part to the east, with its end brick chimney, is lower than the west wing. Two projecting gables mark the façade. The left gable is a staircase tower hung with pointed tiles, featuring two small original leaded-light mullioned windows. The right-hand gable is also hung with pointed tiles but has painted brick below, with a triple 20th-century sash window, a wide plank door, and a gabled wooden 20th-century porch incorporating wooden seats. The 18th-century west wing is of painted brick with a tall brick chimneystack in the southern wall, which heats the western room. This section has three late 19th-century casements within original openings, including a four-light window with a cambered arch on the ground floor.

The east elevation, which is of painted brick, has one large gable spanning the earliest wing and a smaller 19th-century gable. The large gable contains three late 19th- or early 20th-century casements, while the smaller gable has an early 20th-century five-light bay with leaded lights.

The north front projects to the eastern side. The eastern bay is 19th-century, but adjoining it is a 17th-century timber-framed bay with a tiled gable and brick infill. The hipped-roof ground-floor 20th-century extension is not of special interest. The 18th-century western part has a brick stringcourse, a three-light and a four-light casement window with leaded lights on each floor, and brick relieving arches on the ground floor.

The west side has a 20th-century tile-hung gable, a casement window on the first floor, and a 20th-century lean-to conservatory on the ground floor, which is not of special interest.

Interior

The ground-floor front lobby has exposed 17th-century ceiling beams and the sockets for a diamond mullioned window in what would have been the south external wall of the original 16th-century house. The dining room, which occupies the ground floor of the 16th-century house, has floor joists with half-inch chamfers and lambs tongue stops. The north wall of this room is the original external wall of the 16th-century range, with exposed framing. Winder stairs lead to a 17th-century north first-floor room with a ledged plank door, visible tie beam, queenposts, diagonal tension braces, and some exposed rafters.

The drawing room, the central room on the ground floor, has a large open fireplace with a wooden bressumer, spice recesses, and side seats. The 18th-century spine beam has a half-inch chamfer and runout stops, and the ceiling beams are unchamfered. There is an 18th-century two-panelled door to the southeast and an adjoining plank door with pintle hinges leading to a large larder with a tiled floor.

The western ground-floor room was the parlour and is entered by an 18th-century two-panelled door with L-hinges. It has a wooden bolection-moulded fireplace in the south wall, flanked by 18th-century cupboards. The ceiling has a square-section spine beam and floor joists, and the original partition wall with timber posts of thin scantling survives between the two 18th-century ground-floor rooms.

Access to the main part of the first floor is via the southern 17th-century timber-framed staircase tower. This contains a wooden winder staircase with a chamfered newel post with runout stop and carved knop. At the top of the stairs is a 17th-century plank door with pintle hinges leading to a large cupboard, in which a curved windbrace, midrail, and wallplate are visible.

The eastern bedroom is entered through a ledged three-plank door on pintle hinges set in a chamfered surround with lambs tongue stops. The room has a tie beam and queenposts exposed in the north wall, and the wallplate is visible on the east and west sides with a curved windbrace and a scarf joint visible on the east side. The south side also has a visible wallplate supported on a jowled post that has been turned round to support it. An aperture at the side of the chimney reveals a smoke-blackened principal rafter, indicating either a bacon loft or a smoke bay pre-dating the chimney, along with pegged rafters.

The two bedrooms in the 18th-century west wing each have an 18th-century two-panelled door, the westernmost with L-hinges, and there is a blocked fireplace in the former central bedroom. The original partition wall between the two bedrooms survives, but later partitions have been inserted to enclose a bathroom. A 2006 Domestic Buildings Research Group report indicates that this wing has a butt purlin roof.

Historical Context

The name Rigden derives from the circa 1350–1501 references "Wrikendone" and "Wrikkenden bridge" mentioned in the Arundel Archive. In 1534, "Wrigden Bridge" is mentioned in the letters and papers of Henry VIII. On both Rocque's map of 1762 and Lindley and Crossley's map of 1793, it is called Hill House, possibly named after a former occupant, Richard Hill, Yeoman, whose probate inventory was dated 1667. On Greenwood's map of 1823, it is called Rigden Farm.

On the 1851 Census, the property was occupied by James Arnold (a farmer of 120 acres), Isaac Titchenor, his wife Sarah, their niece, nephew, and two servants. The building is shown on the 1851–53 Tithe Map, listed as "Homestead" in the tithe apportionment. On the 1881 Census, it was occupied by James Harding, Farm Bailiff, with his wife, son, one domestic servant, and one farm servant (carter). On an 1892 map, Rigden Farm is shown as the home farm to a large late 19th-century house called Mynthurst. Rigdens Farmhouse features in the 1931 Sales Particulars for Mynthurst. By the Second World War, the property had ceased to be a farmhouse.

Significance

Rigden Farm is a former farmhouse of 16th-, 17th-, and 18th-century date that has special architectural interest for its surviving fabric from these periods. A timber-framed bay survives with parts of the wall frame visible internally, diamond sockets for an original mullioned window, ceiling beams, and the roof structure with a smoke-blackened principal rafter that indicates either a bacon loft or the remains of a smoke bay. In the early 17th century, a further room was added to the northwest and a fine timber-framed staircase tower to the south with winder stairs, a decorative newel post, and an old leaded-light mullioned window. The 18th-century brick west wing, which may have replaced an earlier timber-framed structure, has an open fireplace, a bolection-moulded fireplace, original partition walls, ceiling beams, roof structure, and a series of two-panelled doors. The building is listed at Grade II for this surviving and significant proportion of its original fabric, its changing plan form over its long history remaining readable, and for the number of original features.