Abbey Farmhouse

Abbey Farmhouse is a two-storey house with attics that incorporates the former gatehouse range to Missenden Abbey, an Arrouaisian (later Augustinian) establishment founded in 1133 and one of the first and largest of its order in England. The building dates to the early 15th century, probably with an earlier core, and was adapted for domestic use following the Dissolution of the Monasteries. It was refronted in the 18th century, extended in the later 19th century, and refurbished in the early 1990s. Dendrochronological sampling of roof timbers and first-floor joists has established a felling date of 1406 for the main structural timbers, with rebuilding of the north chimney stack in or after 1534–35.

Materials and Construction

The house is built of stone rubble faced in flint with brick and ashlar dressings. The rear elevation is faced in brick. Internally at the rear and in the gable walls, timber framing survives, infilled with brick nogging; the west gable retains partial render. The roofs are steeply pitched and covered with plain tiles.

Form and Layout

Abbey Farmhouse comprises a single main range with the former gatehouse incorporated in the central bay. The north elevation is divided into five unequal bays. The east gable wall is offset, reflecting the line of the Abbey precinct boundary wall, which archaeological excavation revealed probably continued northward along this alignment—a feature still evident in the street plan of Church Street.

The original medieval arrangement placed the entrance in the central bay, with a chamber above it by the early 15th century. To the east was a large upper-floor hall, probably accessed by external stairs. To the west was a smaller first-floor heated chamber, also decorated. The ground-floor space to the west may have been a kitchen, possibly rising through two storeys, though an upper floor chamber existed at a relatively early date; it has also been interpreted as a possible lock-up due to a squint or ventilation opening in the outer wall. The chamber over the gatehouse was initially unheated but was decorated in the 16th century, probably after the Dissolution, with red and black geometrical decoration and black letter text. A later 17th- or 18th-century wing, which has been partly rebuilt, extends south from the south-west end of the main range.

Exterior

The north elevation is of stone rubble faced in flint with brick and ashlar dressings and has a deep timber modillion cornice. Vertical stone joints indicate the former north gatehouse entrance, which may initially have been of timber post-and-lintel construction. The windows are renewed six-over-six pane sashes set under slightly cambered arches. The left-hand and central bays are arranged in a near-symmetrical composition around the entrance. The 18th-century moulded doorcase was adjusted to compensate for accumulated ground levels to the north of the house; the door has six flush panels beneath an added overlight. A window has been inserted in the blocked former gatehouse entrance.

The south elevation was originally timber framed but was later faced in flint with brick dressings. It is divided by vertical brick bands and blocks of brickwork, which may reflect replacement of the early timber frame. The windows are 19th- and late 20th-century timber casements with tile sills; the 18th-century window openings also have cambered heads. Three narrow, steeply pitched dormers facing south were inserted above the purlins in the 1990s and have timber casements.

The east gable wall is timber framed and brick-nogged. The external brick stack, with lower courses in flint rubble and upper courses in brick with brick tumbling at the angles, was largely reconstructed during restoration. The west gable wall is also timber framed and brick-nogged and retains part of the render applied to the building in the 18th century but removed elsewhere in the 1990s.

Interior

Substantial internal timber-framed partitions supported on renewed posts flank the square-cut stone jambs of the former north entrance. The ground-floor ceiling to the east of the entrance has very heavy plain joists spanning the building; mortices in the mid-rail indicate a former, lower floor level. A brick gable wall fireplace has a chamfered arched opening and herringbone tiled back. Evidence survives of a former doorway in the gable wall and of a small arched opening, possibly a squint (a narrow aperture providing a view out). A remnant of a wave-moulded fireplace arch was recorded on the north wall in 1992. The west ground-floor room also has narrow squints or ventilation openings in the outer walls.

The first-floor chamber to the east is heated by a large external stack in the gable wall, which blocks a former window or door head. The ceiling has a chamfered spine beam and joists, and a cambered tie beam with a heavy arched brace to the south rising from a chamfered pier with a moulded base; these appear to be earlier than the ceiling. Evidence of similar arched braces survives in the south wall, springing from the post. The internal transverse partition wall is also arch-braced. The chamfered stone jamb and flue of the former north fireplace is exposed.

The north wall of the first-floor west chamber is decorated in red paint on an ochre base. The truss of the central bay has traces of red and black geometric painted decoration and text, also recorded in 1992. The ochre and red painted wall decoration was interrupted when the stack was inserted. A plank door with HL hinges leads to an oak attic stair; other doors have strap hinges. Throughout the house, window shutters are of two plain panels.

The roof is divided into five bays, the central bay over the entrance being wider and enclosed by rough-hewn horizontally boarded partitions. The roof, now partially enclosed, is of queen-post truss construction with wind-braced trenched purlins and diminished principal rafters and no ridge piece. Trimmer bays in the roof reflect the position of north stacks, and some smoke blackening was recorded on the westernmost bay in 1992. When the ground-floor ceiling was raised by approximately 18 inches (0.45 metres), the timber frame of the rear wall was altered accordingly.

The south wing, dating to the 17th or 18th century and refurbished in the late 20th century, has a large brick stack in narrow red-brown brick (similar to the east gable wall fireplace) but with rebuilt piers, and a shallow basket-arched opening reinforced with a metal plate. To the south of the south wing, a separate single-storey building in flint and brick is dated 1867.

Historical Context

Missenden Abbey was one of the first and largest Arrouaisian (later Augustinian) houses in England. The main buildings lay to the south of the gatehouse, which appears to have been at the northern end of the precinct. Following the Dissolution, Abbey Farmhouse and its grounds developed separately from the abbey. By 1883, there were two ranges extending south from the south-west angle of the main range and a shorter range extending south from the east end on the alignment of the east gable wall.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, the main abbey buildings and precinct were adapted as a country house set in landscaped grounds, first in Venetian manner and in the early 19th century in Gothic style. The main abbey building (Grade II) was extensively rebuilt following a fire in 1985. Sections of precinct walls, separately listed at Grade II, survive to the south of the farmhouse.

Prior to an extensive programme of restoration in the early 1990s, the house was surveyed by the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England in 1992. Subsequent dendrochronological analysis altered the chronological sequence suggested in that report, establishing that the main structural timbers were felled in 1406 and the north chimney stack was rebuilt in or after 1534–35.