Straws Hadley Farmhouse, Straws Hadley Court

Straws Hadley Farmhouse

This is a timber-framed house, encased and partly replaced in brick, with tile roofs. The building comprises a long east-west range in three irregular bays and a pair of gabled rear wings aligned north-south. One and a half storeys with a cellar beneath the western bay.

The western gabled bay contains timber framing typical of the late 16th or early 17th century and was probably the crosswing of an earlier building, of which the main range has been rebuilt. The current main range shows at least two phases of construction. The central and eastern bays, though distinguished from one another, both contain timber frame suggesting a later 17th-century origin. The eastern gabled bay may date from the 18th century. The plan no longer follows typical 17th-century vernacular house form, having two staircases inserted across the building.

The main range exterior shows a distinct break in the roof line to the east of the axial stack. The roof has a deep hip to the west and is gabled at the east, where there is an internal gable end stack. A further small internal stack stands to the rear of the western bay, and another between the gabled bays. The axial stack includes narrow brick, although the stacks have been repaired. The brick cladding on the south elevation is likely of later 18th-century date but has been repaired and replaced in the 19th and 20th centuries. A distinct break occurs in the plinth and wall to the east of the axial stack, where a dentil cornice is also present. The entrance in the western bay shows disturbance in the brickwork and has been buttressed, probably in the later 19th century, in stretcher bond. A shallow-pitched roof between substantial buttresses frames the porch. The door comprises broad vertical planks in a plain architrave. Windows are late 20th-century three-light casements with leaded latticed lights, set beneath broad, shallow cambered brick arches. Ground floor openings have been altered and reduced in width; one is blocked below the window in coursed tile. The eastern bay has been opened up to accommodate a conservatory. Dormers have tile-hung cheeks and gables with similar three-light casement windows, some in altered openings where the cill has been dropped. The north-facing elevation and gabled wings feature an entrance and symmetrically-placed plain timber casements of three or four lights, also beneath cambered arches. Part of the west elevation is clad in stretcher bond brick.

Interior

In the earliest wing, the western gabled bay, timber frame survives on the upper floor and in small ground floor areas. The axial beam and some joists are chamfered with pyramidal or bar stops. The first-floor internal partition is infilled in wattle and daub between pegged studs. The roof above this section, visible only below the collar, is of side purlin construction and mostly machine-cut timber of probably 19th-century date.

The eastern gabled bay is of separate and later construction, possibly as late as the 18th century, butting onto the earlier wing. It contains a chamfered cross beam of 17th-century character and a rebuilt inglenook fireplace reusing a moulded mantel shelf. The roof is machine-cut softwood.

The east-west range comprises three bays, each divided by lateral stairs, with the eastern set rising against the stack. This section has been restored on both floors, reusing historic components and introducing new timber within the framework of the historic building. The ground floor eastern bay has a longitudinal ceiling beam with a run-out chamfer. Slender timber framing is exposed in the central bay, which contains a large inglenook fireplace with a re-set bressumer and exposed ceiling with stop-chamfered beams and joists. Doorframes to the entrance passage incorporate moulded timber sections formerly laid horizontally. Ground floor doors have three broad oak panels with moulded muntins and strap hinges. The timber frame is not visible on the ground floor of the western bay and may have been replaced in brick.

Slender scantling timber framing is exposed on the upper floor. At first-floor level, two small internal windows of nine rectangular leaded lights each look out onto the western stair well. The roof of the main range is of side purlin, queen strut construction, where the central collar has been strengthened and the purlins are supported by added struts where the roof has been altered. The eastern bay differs in construction from the central and western bays.

The cellar is lined in brick including narrow brick typical of the late 17th or early 18th century in the internal wall beneath the stack. It is reached by a vertically boarded door with strap hinges.