Spring View And Associated Farm Buildings

This is an evolved longhouse with associated farm buildings. The house probably originated in the 17th century and has undergone numerous alterations, principally during the 18th century, with some later modifications. The farm buildings date from the late 18th to early 19th century. Construction is rubble stone with pantile roofs.

Farmstead Layout

The house faces the road to the south-west and occupies the full width of a long, narrow landholding extending northwards. Immediately behind the house, a small brick washhouse stands on the east side, whilst the access to the farmyard lies to the west. Just beyond this sits a two-storey barn on the west side, facing a single-storey outbuilding across a broad track that provides access to a cart shed and stable further north. This stable is orientated at right angles to the other farm buildings and forms the eastern end of a farm range belonging to the neighbouring farm. A metal-framed Dutch barn further north is not of special interest.

The House

Plan

The house is a two-storey, three-bay longhouse with the former low end to the north-west and a two-bay house section beyond the cross passage. The rear entrance is covered by a modern porch which also gives access to a small, single-storey lean-to. The south-eastern ground floor bay is divided into a small parlour at the front and a narrow service room (possibly a dairy) at the rear. The middle bay incorporates a former smoke bay and has an inserted stair against the rear wall. The upper floor is divided by stud walls apart from the masonry wall supporting the central stack. These stud walls are generally single-skin planked partitions which are probably relatively late in date.

Front Elevation

The front elevation has unevenly distributed openings, all with exposed timber lintels. All windows have horizontal sliding sashes with single narrow transoms, mainly retaining original glazing. There are two small first-floor windows: the right-hand one is three-light with six panes, the other is square with four panes. The ground floor has three larger, square windows of four panes each. The door is six-panelled with the upper two panels glazed.

The stonework shows several different builds, with a clear break to larger, more regularly sized stonework immediately above the ground floor lintels, demonstrating that the building was originally single storey. The very bottom two to three courses of the elevation are also different, being much rougher stonework that appears to match the lower part of the south-eastern gable—this may be the stone footings of an earlier cruck-framed longhouse. A large area of rebuild on the ground floor of the westernmost bay uses larger, more yellow stonework. This may represent the blocking of a large opening into the former agricultural part of the building, but could also be a 20th-century repair following vehicle impact. There is no evidence in the external stonework of a blocked fire window lighting the central hearth.

The eaves line is formed by a stone cornice. The left gable is raised and coped with a shaped kneeler. The roof is covered in clay pantiles. The three stacks—end stacks and a third ridge stack offset to the left of centre—are all modern rebuilds above the roof line. Cast iron rainwater goods are fitted throughout.

The north-west gable is not of special interest, being a 20th-century rebuild with small inserted windows. The south-east gable is angled to respect the plot boundary. It is blind but has interest as it shows several different builds.

Rear Elevation

The rear elevation is mainly covered by a later (probably 19th-century) lean-to and an even later porch covering the rear door of the cross passage. To the right there is an inserted first-floor window which cuts the eaves line, fitted with a modern four-pane casement window. To the left there is a small ground floor window which is a horizontal sliding sash under a timber lintel. The stonework of the rear elevation is noticeably rougher than that to the front. It also shows a clear building break demonstrating the addition of the upper floor and is topped by an eaves cornice in dressed stonework. The kneeler to the left is plain.

Interior

The ground floor room to the north-west of the cross passage has a planked door retaining a timber housed lock and original strap hinges. The ceiling joists are exposed and plain chamfered.

The central ground floor room is stone flagged, although about half of the floor is likely to be 20th-century replacement flags. These replacement flagstones are poorly matched to the earlier ones. The exposed ceiling joists have roll mouldings and there is disturbance to the joists around the entrance suggestive of a former ladder stair position. The room includes a former smoke bay backing onto the cross passage. However, the bressummer beam has been sawn through and removed from across the former inglenook, though it survives between a brick pier and the north-east wall of the house. This beam was probably removed in the 18th century with the insertion of the large fireplace with its simply dressed stone jambs and lintel. To the right of the fireplace there is a small salt box formed in the wall thickness, with a much larger built-in cupboard to the left. This cupboard has a planked door on butterfly hinges which is probably also 18th century. The door to the cross passage is planked and hung on strap hinges. To its right, in the north-east wall, there is an opening with a timber lintel. This is possibly a blocked window but more likely a former cupboard. Against the north-east wall of the room is an inserted staircase that is boxed in with relatively modern wood planking, but includes an 18th or early 19th-century planked door on modern strap hinges.

The south-eastern bay is divided into two by an inserted brick wall of 18th-century style bricks, with a larger room (an inner parlour) to the south and a narrow service room or dairy to the north. At the time of inspection the plaster from the inserted wall had been removed showing that it was of more than one build. The southern room has another planked door on original strap hinges as well as a large built-in cupboard with a planked door on butterfly hinges. The fireplace has been reduced in size with brickwork to accommodate a mid-19th-century style grate, though the grate was missing at the time of inspection.

On the upper floor, the central room includes the irregularly shaped chimney stack serving the central hearth on the ground floor. The irregularity implies that this incorporates at least part of an earlier smokehood. The cross wall supporting this stack is masonry but includes at least some timberwork which was exposed at the time of inspection. The other partitions on the upper floor are of timber and are likely to be late 19th century or later. However, one of the upstairs doors is clearly reused and is likely to be much earlier, being of three broad planks hung on early strap hinges.

The roof structure is simple with a ridge beam clasped by a couple of principal rafters and supported by the central cross and gable walls. These timbers, along with the common rafters, are generally riven rather than sawn, but are supplemented by modern sawn timbers. There are further features that contribute to the special interest of the building such as areas of mud and horsehair plaster. There are also likely to be more features of interest that were not recognised at the time of inspection or which were concealed by later alterations.

The Barn

This is a two-storey, three-bay barn with a quoined southern gable and a lean-to butted against the northern gable. The barn has opposed narrow doorways in the northern bay with a window to the right of the eastern door. The rest of the ground floor is blind apart from arrow-slit ventilation openings. There are two upper pitching windows: one central to the southern gable, the other in the eastern wall. Principal openings have exposed timber lintels.

The roof structure is of particular interest as it is traditionally jointed and pegged with two simple trusses that utilise a pair of former cruck blades as tie beams. The lean-to to the north includes a couple of concrete stalls that are not of special interest. The roof line has also been altered with the use of modern concrete blockwork.

The Stable and Cart Shed

This is a two-bay, two-storey building that abuts a range of farm buildings belonging to the neighbouring property to the left (north-west). The stable, to the left, has a door with a four-pane rectangular fanlight and a window to the left that has a three-pane upper portion above a slatted ventilator. Above the door there is a pitching window. The cart shed opening is undivided and has a timber lintel. Above there is a small window with an exposed timber lintel. In the gable end there is an upper taking-in door. The north-eastern side of the building is blind.

Internally the stable retains a cobbled floor and is divided into two stalls by a timber stall partition, each retaining a hay rack and manger. Some of the floor joists above have roll mouldings similar to those found in the house. The cart shed has a couple of niches built into the walls. The upper floor is divided by a brick wall, mainly, but not entirely, of slim handmade bricks. The roof of the stable half of the building incorporates a mid-19th-century king post truss and is of sawn timber; the other half of the building incorporates some riven timber in its roof structure.

The Outbuilding

This is a single-storey, single-celled building with a cobbled floor, a doorway in the western wall with a broad planked door (possibly reused from the house), a bricked-up doorway in the southern gable and a small ventilation slit in the northern gable. The abutting modern blockwork outbuilding is not of special interest.

The Washhouse

This is a mid to late 19th-century washhouse built of wire-cut bricks beneath a pantiled roof. It retains an in situ copper with its fire grate beneath, although the flue is missing. The toilet is a later alteration.

Historical Development

The house is clearly an improved longhouse and as such is likely to be 17th century in origin, although it may date to as late as the early 18th century. The very rough lowest courses to the house and the reused cruck blades in the barn suggest that the house was originally cruck-framed. Further stonework in the front elevation shows that it was originally single storey but was raised to two storeys, probably in the 18th century judging by the moulded stone eaves cornice and the kneelers to the south-eastern gable. The rear lean-to is likely to be 19th century.

The farm buildings to the rear are likely to be late 18th or early 19th century in date, possibly around 1790 when a proportion of Pickering's agricultural land was rationalised by parliamentary enclosure. However, they were probably not all built at the same time and, along with the house, they may have originally been part of the neighbouring farm to the west.

Reasons for Designation

Spring View and its associated farm buildings are designated for the following principal reasons:

The house is a good, well-preserved example of a longhouse that is probably pre-1700 in origin and has evolved into its current form mainly in the 18th century, retaining considerable evidence of that evolution in the surviving structure. It retains many features of interest, especially internally on the ground floor, such as early joinery and ironmongery. As a surviving, well-preserved example of a small evolved farmstead, with buildings dating to the late 18th to early 19th century that retain features that often no longer survive on farms that have been more intensively used in the 20th century.