Thrubwell Farm

Thrubwell Farm

A farmstead dating from the later 18th or earlier 19th century, located at Nempnett Thrubwell. The group comprises a farmhouse, barn, stables, cider house, detached granary, and livestock house, with a number of later 20th-century agricultural buildings to the east.

All historic buildings are constructed of local stone with red clay tile roofs, except the granary which is roofed in slate. The agricultural buildings (excluding the granary and livestock house) are arranged around two sides of a courtyard, with the third side now occupied by a modern agricultural building. The granary stands towards the east of the yard, and the livestock house is positioned to the south-east. A former wagon house, now roofless, stands adjacent to the access from Thrubwell Lane.

The Farmhouse

The house is situated towards the south of the site, oriented east-west with its main elevation facing south. It is a substantial double-fronted building dating from the 18th century. The plan comprises two principal rooms with a central through-passage, single depth, a deep rear outshut, and a single-storey range to the east. An attached poultry house stands to the west.

The main elevation has a central entrance doorway with a pitched-roofed porch, flanked by pairs of six-over-six paned sash windows set in segmental-arched openings with slightly projecting keystones. Brick gable-end stacks rise at both ends of the main range. Two dormers with hipped gables and two-light casements are positioned on the front slope. The rear outshut, which appears to have been built in two phases, has a long catslide roof with windows of various dates to either end.

The interior retains much of its original layout. Principal rooms flank an entrance hall, one containing a mid-19th-century fireplace. Several 18th-century doors and doorcases survive in the main range. The rear outshut contains a dairy with a timber lattice-work partition to the rear corridor. At least one chamfered spine beam with run-out stops is visible. The stair is located in the outshut. The single-storey range to the east houses a kitchen and scullery: the kitchen retains a large 19th-century range and bread oven, whilst the scullery retains its copper boiler in a brick housing.

The first floor contains bedrooms in both the main range and outshut, with stairs rising to the attic floor in the main range. The attic is ceiled and whitewashed, and was probably used at least in part as a cheese room. Roof trusses are formed from paired principal rafters with trenched purlins.

The Agricultural Buildings

These buildings form two sides of a courtyard to the north-east of the house, dating from the later 18th to earlier 19th centuries. All have rubble stone elevations under pitched tiled roofs. The eastern range is now partially enclosed within a modern barn.

The western range comprises a cider house adjoining the south of an L-shaped stable building. The stable has a timber ceiling for a hayloft and retains a mixture of timber and concrete block partitions. The northern range is a ten-bay barn used for multiple agricultural purposes: the western end has timber partitions for storage, whilst the eastern gable end has a full-height, full-width doorway with timber double doors for wagon access and loading. Small square-shuttered openings are set under the eaves along the rear, with a single doorway to the front. Roof trusses are simple A-frames formed from lapped principal rafters and a high collar with a small yoke, and twin trenched purlins. A modern lean-to at the rear replaces an earlier structure which may have housed a horse engine.

The detached granary, probably dating from the 18th century, stands towards the eastern side of the yard with a raised ground floor approached by stone steps. It retains half-height timber partitions creating grain bins either side of a central walkway, and roof trusses of tie-beam, queen struts and threaded purlins.

A 19th-century livestock house stands detached to the south-east of the farmyard, with openings facing away from the yard towards open fields.

History and Evolution

The farmstead originated in the later 18th century as a dairy farm, undergoing extension and alteration during the earlier 19th century. The house footprint has remained unchanged since its appearance on the Ordnance Survey map of 1885, and the layout of surviving agricultural buildings is little altered. Modern farm buildings were added during the 20th century to the east, replacing an earlier range shown on the 1885 map. The 19th-century alterations to the house demonstrate the building's functional evolution and add to its special interest. The farm retains evidence of food-production processes, including the dairy and probable attic cheese room.