Christmas Farmhouse And Adjoining Outbuilding And Front Garden Walls

Christmas Farmhouse, also shown on Ordnance Survey maps as Gratleigh, is a rendered cob farmhouse on a stone rubble plinth, partly rebuilt in stone rubble. The building has a thatched roof, half-hipped to the left, with a rendered stone end stack to the left and a brick end stack to the right. The adjoining outbuilding is constructed of stone rubble and cob with a 20th-century corrugated-iron lean-to roof. Stone rubble walls enclose the front garden.

Historical Development

The house originated in the late 15th or early 16th century as a three-room and through-passage plan house facing south-east, where the ground falls to the right. The late medieval house consisted of a hall, through passage, former service room to the right, and former inner room to the left. The hall and probably the passage were originally open to the roof and heated by an open hearth, whilst the former service room and inner room probably always had first floors. The room to the left of the hall may be a later 16th- or 17th-century addition or rebuilding of a smaller former inner room.

Alterations probably made in the late 16th century included the partial flooring of the open hall by inserting a first-floor chamber over the passage, jettied into the right-hand half of the hall. An external lateral stack (once truncated) was inserted in the front wall of the hall, possibly before the internal jetty was inserted or at the same time, but probably in the early to mid-17th century. The former wooden lintel was replaced by a brick arch in the late 19th century. A projecting full-height square bay was added to the front of the hall at the left-hand end next to the stack, probably when the stack was inserted. The left-hand side of the hall was probably finally floored in the late 17th century, possibly even in the early 18th century.

Further 17th-century alterations included the addition of an external lateral stack (since truncated) to the rear of the former service room, and the first floor might also have been inserted in this end during the 17th century. There is evidence of a possible former staircase in the right-hand rear corner. A probably late 17th-century one-roomed addition was made at the left-hand end of the house with an external end stack, and a probably late 17th- or early 18th-century one-room plan dairy wing (now the kitchen) was added at the rear of the through passage.

Mid to late 19th-century alterations included the insertion of a loft door in the front wall of the room to the left of the hall, approached by a flight of external stone steps. The owner reported in January 1987 that the ground-floor room to the left of the hall (former inner room) became the kitchen in the 19th century, which probably explains the pair of blocked doorways in the front wall. The right-hand end wall of the house was rebuilt in stone in the mid to late 19th century, with a stone end stack corbelled out from the first floor, consisting of one flue to a first-floor fireplace only. A doorway underneath the stack in the end wall has since been blocked. Other late 19th-century alterations included the insertion of a staircase in the right-hand rear corner of the hall.

The probably 19th-century former shippon adjoining the right-hand end of the house had its first floor removed and roof altered in the 20th century. Mid to late 20th-century alterations included the removal of the first floor in the room to the left of the hall (former inner room) and the creation of a gallery along the front wall, and the internal division of the far left-hand ground-floor room. Doorways were inserted in the rear walls of the hall and the left-hand ground-floor room in the 20th century too. The probably late 19th-century low stone walls enclosing the front garden (possibly incorporating some earlier work) include a retaining wall to the front and a return wall to the left adjoining the house.

Exterior

The two-storey house with one-storey outbuilding has an asymmetrically-fenestrated front with mainly late 19th-century two-light small-paned wooden casements. The projecting full-height square bay has casements on each floor (the lower window with weathering above) and a truncated external stack to the right. A high slate-roofed lean-to bread oven stands in the right-hand angle of the stack. To the right of the stack are two first-floor casements and one ground-floor casement, and to the left of the stack are three ground-floor casements: a small window lighting the former inner room and two windows with wooden lintels, both formerly doorways (evident from straight joints).

The wide through-passage doorway to the right of the stack has a probable late 19th- or early 20th-century plank door with internal wrought-iron strap hinges and wooden frame, and a probable 20th-century rendered porch with a half-hipped thatched roof, two-leaf door, and windows to the sides. An inserted loft doorway to the former granary over the inner room has a late 20th-century glazed door and is approached by a 19th-century external flight of eight stone steps with a corbelled-arched opening below (possibly a former kennel or small lime kiln). A small buttress stands to the left of the right-hand ground-floor window.

The left-hand end wall features a first-floor 19th-century two-light small-paned wooden casement to the right of the stack, with a wooden lintel. The right-hand gable end shows a straight joint to the left of the stack and a blocked doorway below the end stack (evident from straight joints and wooden lintel) with a later buttress in front supporting the stack. The outbuilding at the right-hand end has a doorway to the front with a 20th-century plank door and red brick jambs. The garden wall adjoining the front of the house has a gateway opposite the front door, approached by steps, and a gateway in the left-hand side wall.

Interior

Cob walls between the hall and former inner room and between the passage and service room rise up into the roof-space. The hall has a cased 17th-century chamfered cross beam and half-beam along the left-hand end wall. The inserted internal jetty in the right-hand half of the hall has a moulded bressumer with straight cut stops and two mortices in the front face (original function unknown). The right-hand end (front wall) of the bressumer rests on a wooden wall plate. The plastered hall ceiling retains an old meat hook. A tall 17th-century open fireplace has dressed splayed jambs, a 19th-century segmental red-brick arch with wrought-iron straps below, and a bread oven to the left with a 19th-century segmental brick arch and cast-iron door. An L-shaped bench runs along the left-hand end wall and into the bay, with shaped legs and matchboarded back (the bench has been shortened at the right-hand end). A cupboard recess is also present in the left-hand wall of the hall. The late 19th-century staircase was inserted in the rear right-hand corner of the hall.

Remains of a probably 16th-century oak plank and muntin screen between the hall and through passage survive, with mortices and a groove in the head beam and grooves in the sides of the muntins. The muntin to the left of the central entrance has the curved chamfered jamb of the former arched opening (the screen apparently had no middle rail). The right-hand ground-floor room (former service room) has a 19th-century four-panelled door from the passage, with a wooden lintel. A 17th-century chamfered cross beam has ogee stops. There is a blocked fireplace to the rear and a blocked doorway in the right-hand end wall (now with shelves) with a moulded architrave. A window seat is present in the front wall. The passage rear doorway has a wooden lintel. The former dairy in the rear wing (present kitchen) has a roughly chamfered cross beam. A 19th-century plank door separates the hall from the former inner room to the left.

The first floor of the inner room was rebuilt in the mid to late 20th century and reinstated (incorporating some reused timbers) as a gallery along the front wall. A blocked doorway is visible in the front wall. The left-hand ground-floor end room (divided in the late 20th century) has a 17th-century chamfered cross beam and chamfered half beam along the left-hand end wall, supported on a central stone corbel. A tall narrow fireplace has stone jambs and a wooden lintel. The top of a 19th-century staircase features stick balusters and a turned newel post. An old plank door to the right-hand first-floor room has a 19th-century lockable latch and a 17th-century pegged chamfered wooden frame (mitred to chamfer) with ogee stops. A small 19th-century fireplace is present in the right-hand end wall of the right-hand room. A blocked window in the rear wall (with a recess, said to retain the old window) is visible. A 17th-century cupboard in the rear wall has a two-panelled door with H-L hinges. An old plank door into the first-floor room over the rear wing has a 17th-century pegged chamfered wooden frame (mitred to chamfer) with ogee stops. A side window in the first-floor room of the rear wing has a chamfered internal wooden lintel. An old door between the bedroom over the hall and the 20th-century gallery in the inner room has a pegged wooden frame.

The roof-space was ceiled and inaccessible at the time of survey in January 1988, but was largely visible from the first-floor rooms. The circa 1500 roof over the hall and inner room includes a jointed cruck truss over the hall in line with the hall jetty, with a mortice and tenoned collar, and a truss over the left-hand end of the hall with straight principals and a mortice and tenoned collar. There are a pair of staggered trenched purlins and a diagonally-set ridge piece over the hall and inner room. The old plaster ceiling at collar level in the bedroom over the hall and exposed purlins with adze marks suggest they were once cased in plaster. The probable circa 1500 roof over the former service end room was not visible at the time of survey. The 17th-century roof over the left-hand end of the house consists of a truss with straight principals, halved lap-jointed collar, and notched mortice and tenoned apex, and staggered purlins and ridge-piece (mostly ceiled above the collar). The 17th-century roof over the rear (dairy) wing has a truss with straight principals, and staggered purlins.

This farm was formerly known as Gratleigh. The house forms part of a small farmstead group which also includes a barn and shippon.