Slough Farmhouse

Slough Farmhouse is a fortified manor house, now a farmhouse, dating to the late medieval period with a ceiled 16th century appearance. The service end was rebuilt and a porch altered in the mid-19th century. The original walls are of roughcast coursed and squared blue lias to the service end and south wing, with patterned Ham stone and lias to the porch and lateral stack. The roof is tiled, extended to the lateral stack, and has coped verges. The house likely began as an open hall with symmetrical oriels at the dais end (north), the east one being extended when the hall was ceiled. A staircase, originally rising beside a lateral stack, was resited in an enlarged porch in the 19th century. The service end, to the right of a screens passage, was largely rebuilt and extended in the 19th century. It may have originally been a double-ended open hall house with a solar, now demolished.

The west front has two storeys and four bays, with a recessed end bay to the left. A full-height projecting porch is present, with stone mullions under hoodmoulds. First-floor windows include a 3-light C19 Tudor arch head casement to the left and a lancet window in the projection. The porch has a C19 3-light window and a small quatrefoil panel on the left return, alongside a 3-light window. Ground-floor windows consist of a 3-light window to the left, a lancet, and a 3-light window to the right. A moulded arch frames the outer doorway, while a depressed 4-centred arch head frames the inner doorway. The right return has a gable end to the left and features C19 and C20 fenestration. On the rear elevation, a C19 wing extends to the left. The hall features coursed Ham stone and lias, with a single-light pointed arch head window on the first floor flanking a 4-light window. The roof extends over a projection that runs a short distance beyond a stack.

Inside, a fine stud and panel screen with two openings is present, alongside a depressed Tudor arch head rear door frame with a tiny lancet above. A splendid 24-panel compartment ceiling is cut by a corridor adjoining the screen, giving access to the stairs. There are trefoil headed panelled openings to what were formerly oriels. A window has been inserted on the west front and a roughly cut peaked lintel above a small bay with a compartment ceiling on the east front. A cupboard has been inserted at the north end with a blocked depressed Tudor arch head at ground level, possibly leading to a cellar. The upper storey features a depressed Tudor arch head Ham stone chimney piece to the lateral stack and a blocked doorway in the facade wall of a north-facing bedroom, likely to a former stair cast. Three doors are composed of linen fold panelling, likely contemporary with the hall, and there are two pretty mid-19th century cast iron basket grates. A garden shed attached at the rear has a resited 4-centred arch wooden door frame.

The house’s evolution is not entirely clear, but it’s considered a very fine example of its type. Remnants of a moat survive to the south, adjoining the gateway. The property was the home of the Montague family during the Middle Ages and occupies the site of an earlier dwelling.