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Summary

16th century timber-framed building, extended and with walls replaced by brick in the 17th and 18th century; one of three prebendal farms; said to contain Roman masonry

Monument Type(s):

• BUILDING? (Roman - 43 AD? to 409 AD)
• FARMHOUSE (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• SINGLE ENDED HALL HOUSE (Medieval - 1500 AD? to 1525 AD?)
• TIMBER FRAMED HOUSE (Medieval - 1500 AD? to 1525 AD?)
• DATE STONE? (Post Medieval - 1597 AD? to 1597 AD?)

Associated Finds

• FDR12113 - ARCHITECTURAL FRAGMENT (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)

Associated Events

• EDR2014 - Building Survey of Stone House Prebend, Little Chester, Derby, in 1989 (DBR 57) (Ref: DBR 57)

Full Description

School Farm (named on map) (1)

School Farmhouse, Old Chester Road, is a late 16th century red brick building of irregular plan with two storeys. A date stone gives the date as 1597. An earlier building is possibly incorporated and the cellars are said to contain Roman masonry. The interior contains an early 17th century oak-panelled room and a wide fireplace. Grade 2*. (2)

School Farmhouse, late 16th century, brick, with large medieval stone chimneys and left wing dated 1597 (cellars said to contain Roman masonry: DOE) (3)

Stone House Prebend is the only one of three prebendal farms acquired by Derby Borough in 1554 that is still standing. It was called City House in the 1850s but was School Farm by 1895 as it had, by that time, been put to use as a Masters' house for Derby School. It was sketched by George Bailey in the 1880s and is outwardly little changed since his sketch. It has been a private residence since 1977. (4)

Extensive documentary research by the occupant, Mrs D'Arcy, shows that this is one of three houses built to farm the prebendal estates in Derby of the Sub Dean of Lincoln in the Middle Ages. In 1547 the estates were appropriated by the Crown and assigned to the town of Derby. In the 19th century it was used as a school and became known as School Farm, but by the 1970s was empty and had been vandalised by fire. In 1978 it was sold to the present owners and is now a private residence. The oldest part of the present building is the north-south range, which was built as timber-framed structure with close-studded walls and widely spaced roof trusses. It was probably the cross-wing to an earlier hall, probably to the east, and perhaps built about 1500-1525, with massive stone chimneys (hence its name). In the early 17th century the medieval hall was replaced by a large timber-framed kitchen wing and the house space rearranged. The timber-framing was replaced by brick in the 17th and 18th century, and a brick extension built at the west end in the early 18th century. The date stone of 1597 is probably a 19th century copy. (5)

Sources and Further Reading

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