Old Timbers

Old Timbers

A former farmhouse, possibly originating in the 16th century, substantially rebuilt with a large internal stack in the late 16th or early 17th century. The outer walls were refaced or replaced in brick during the 18th century and the building was refurbished in the 20th century. Built originally as a single house, it was extended and subsequently divided into two cottages before being returned to a single dwelling in the 20th century. After 1913 it was refurbished and reconfigured internally, with the addition of a north-west garden room and replacement of the stair. The building has undergone restoration over the past fifty years.

The outer walls are constructed on sandstone footings. The house is principally of brick in Flemish bond, in places with burnt headers, which replaces or clads the remains of a substantial timber frame visible behind the rear and west elevation and present in the internal cross walls or trusses. The roofs are clad in replaced or salvaged clay tiles. The main stack is of stone and brick, rebuilt above the ridge, and the end stack is of brick. Most windows are late 20th or 21st century units imitating traditional casements.

The building is aligned roughly north-south, with two storeys and four bays. The entrance is located on the east elevation against a substantial stack in a lobby-entry position. The historic northern gable wall formerly had a jettied upper floor, now internal. The northern bay was added subsequently with a later upper floor, and beyond it is a single-storey 20th century bay. An outshut beneath a catslide roof on the west elevation is now incorporated into the main building following the removal of the former rear wall in the central bays.

Internally, the main stack features large inglenook fireplaces heating the southern and central rooms. The position of the original stair is unknown, but in the 19th and early 20th centuries a stair was located within the central room and some form of stair existed in the southern bay, which is believed to have formed a separate cottage. The current stair, dating to the early or mid-20th century, rises in the third bay. A substantial open truss appears to have existed to the north of the stack.

The front, east elevation is predominantly in Flemish bond brick with a substantial brick buttress between the second and third bays. A mid- to late 20th century two-storey porch has a timber-framed lower floor infilled with herringbone brick nogging, an upper floor clad in waney timber boarding and a hipped tiled roof. A separate entrance exists in the single-storey northernmost bay. Windows are predominantly late 20th and 21st century two and three-light casements and fixed lights beneath shallow cambered arches, echoing the proportions of the historic fenestration pattern; the arches flanking the ground floor entrance were rebuilt in the late 20th century. Each outer bay has a 20th century flat-roofed slightly inclined dormer of three shallow lights.

The central section of the west elevation has a deep catslide roof. Extending beyond it are a small 20th century cloakroom and an early to mid-20th century garden room with an upper floor, extended in the late 20th century. A 20th century garage is built against the southern bay, structurally reinforcing it. Ground floor windows are limited and include a small metal-framed casement with leaded lights featuring elaborate internal catches and plates, and a small early 20th century timber fixed light of four panes. Upper floor windows serving the first floor are 20th century gabled dormers and in the attic, slightly inclined dormers set into the roof slope, all with shallow three or four-light casements.

The main internal stack is cruciform on plan with a base of narrow early brick and a tall 20th century shaft with a moulded cap. The northern stack was similarly rebuilt above the ridge in the 20th century with a matching moulded cap.

The building displays a substantial arch-braced timber frame with jowled posts, evident to the west of the stack at ground floor and first floor levels. At the first floor, there is an arch brace and cambered tie beam of a former open truss to the north of the stack. Infilling between the post and brace is in scribed plaster. The arch braces of the western wall are unusually chamfered on both faces. The corresponding cross wall is of slighter scantling than elsewhere, with symmetrical downward braces. The southern room has close-studding on the west wall. The northern cross wall of the third bay, now internal, appears to have a jettied upper floor, though the projecting jetty ends are clean and show no signs of wear or exposure, suggesting possible later intervention. The northernmost internal cross wall has small framing on the upper floor.

On the ground floor the stack is of sandstone and brick, now painted, with reset bressumers featuring 1-inch chamfers. The southern inglenook opening is particularly large, and the southern post of the timber frame is cut off and rests on the western pier. The sandstone bears sickle-shaped incisions resulting from prolonged use for sharpening knives. The transverse ceiling beams and joists are roughly cut, some with stepped chamfers, and the northern beam is channelled for a former partition, adjacent to the former stair location. The lintel above the east window of the south room comprises a section of reused cyma-moulded timber.

On the first floor the stack is exposed above the porch, constructed of sandstone blocks and narrow red, brown and grey brick. Adjacent to it is a plank and muntin door, formerly leading to the attic.

Throughout the house, some ceiling beams and joists, and elements of the roof structure, have been replaced during the late 20th century restoration; other roof members have been reused. The visible section of the historic roof is of side purlin construction with collars; the central section is not accessible but retains its irregular historic profile.

Early to mid-20th century fixtures and fittings are evident in the newel stair, oak panelled doors—some with moulded muntins, some with high-set glazed lights with rectangular leaded panes and wooden or metal catches—and in the garden room. This features an exposed ceiling of moulded beams and joists, an angle fireplace in brick and tile (now painted) with a high mantelpiece, deep-set windows with oak reveals and frames, and a parquet floor.