More information : (SO 46065763) Manor Farm (GT). (1)
Manor Farm, house and outbuildings, 60 yds SSE of the church.
The house is of two storeys, timber-framed and with tiled roofs.
The middle part of the house fronting S. formed the hall and
E cross-wing of a medieval building, perhaps of the 15th cent.
Early in the 17th cent. a large extension was made on the
W and N and late in the same or early in the following century
the main block was extended towards the E. Much of the N & S
sides and the W end have been faced in brick. Some of the timber
framing is exposed, and near the SW angle is a moulded 17th
cent beam..........The original hall has a central roof-truss
with rudimentary hammer-beams and curved braces ...... The
outbuilding NE of the house is timber-framed and probably of
early 18th cent date. The barn and loft, W of the church, is
timber-framed, and probably of the 17th cent. Condition of
house - poor. (2)
The house was destroyed in 1953 and now only a few of the
associated buildings remain. These are not outstanding, see GP of
associated buildings to east of the site of the house.
A modern barn now occupies the site of the house. (3)
The manor of Monkland was part of the Stretford Hundred and is listed in Doomsday as a possession of Norman lords. It became the site of a small Benedictine cell of the abbey at Conches, but this was suppressed, along with other alien priories in about 1414. It came into the possession of Sir Roland Lenthall until 1475 when it was granted to the dean and cannons of Windsor. They held it until 1831 when it was sold into private hands. The building which is the subject of the present application is a two-bay cross wing to the manor house and is of 16th century date. It formed the upper-end accommodation and was joined to the manor, which was a hall house, probably of 15th century date which stood to the east. The wing has jetties to the north and west sides which were underbuilt in brick in the 18th century or early- 19th century. The first floor framing to the north, south and west sides was covered with clapboarding, probably in the 19th century, and the east side was covered with corrugated metal cladding following a fire in the 1950s which destroyed much of the earlier part of the manor house. A lower agricultural building was added to the west side, most probably in the early- 20th century. The full extent of the manor house buildings was recorded for the Royal Commission for Historical Monuments in 1933 and a plan was drawn at that time showing both the wing and the manor house. The building was described at that time as being `unoccupied and in a derelict condition¿. The building is currently used for agricultural storage.
The building is timber-framed with a stone plinth and is abutted to east and west by farm buildings with corrugated metal roofing. The lower body is of late-18th century or early-19th century random-bond brick to both north and south sides and the upper body is covered with timber cladding. It has a plain tiled roof. The plan is of two rooms to each floor with an attic and basement. The building is jettied to both the north and west fronts.
EXTERIOR: The timber framing is masked on the exterior by later brick walling and timber cladding, but inside the farm building which abuts on the west side can be seen part of the bressumer of the first floor jetty which has a series of quadrant and stepped mouldings. Above this are the vertical timbers of the small-framed first floor walling.
INTERIOR: The ground floor was previously divided into two rooms, however the dividing wall has now been demolished. At the time of the RCHM survey in 1933, the earlier part of the manor house was still extant. This part of the building was referred to as the western room and had been subdivided by 1934 and the walls were covered with panelling. Following the fire in the 1950s, the chimney referred to was demolished and the panelling has been removed, save for one small portion of the frieze at first floor level. The cellar is infilled. The ground floor now forms one large space but appears from mortice holes in a cross-axial beam to have been originally divided into two; one large, nearly square room to the south and a smaller room to the north. The walling is close-studded with a prominent middle-rail. Bays of this close studded walling survive to two thirds of the extent of the western wall at its northern end and to two bays of the eastern wall. The south end of this east wall was previously the position of a large fireplace prior to the 1950s as described in the RCHM survey of 1933. The original corner posts at the eastern end are both in situ and are chamfered to their inner angle. There are prominent projecting posts at the midway point to both side walls, which are also chamfered and these help to support a ceiling of beams which run both axially and cross-axially. Painted decoration survives to these beams and takes the form of leaf and flower ornament in stylised friezes which differ between the two rooms. The painted decoration in the south room extends down the wall timbers. At first floor level the space was formerly divided along a centre line marked by the truss, forming two rooms of roughly equal size. The timber framing to the west side is almost complete, and has panels of small framing with a generous middle rail and two window spaces. The uprights of the small framing coincide with every alternative upright of the close studding of the floor below. There are jowled corner posts to all four corners. The north face is also intact, save for one upright. The eastern wall has lost much of its timber framing and the south wall, which is clad on both sides, also appears to have been largely rebuilt using modern timbers. The attic has two ranks of trenched purlins with a diagonally-set ridge beam. The common rafters appear to be very largely original. The roof does not appear to have been wind braced originally but has had some bracing added, perhaps in the 18th century. Both gable ends are small framed and appear to have had central windows. The window sill on the north side is heavily weathered but the soffit to the window head is hidden by later timber and the mullion mortices are not apparent. Wide floorboards which may be original exist here, but have been renewed on the lower two floors.
This is a significant survival of a 16th century wing which formed the upper end to an earlier hall house, perhaps of 15th century date. Certain parts of the structure have been lost due to a disastrous fire in the 1950s, which destroyed almost all of the remaining fabric of the earlier manor house. Nonetheless, the greater majority of the original fabric of this wing survives, including the jetties to the north and west sides and the roof structure. These reveal it to have been a high-status building, carefully designed and assembled to achieve a definite aesthetic effect, using substantial timbers, and a jetty to two sides. The building also contains a quantity of contemporary painted decoration, including friezes of flowers and vegetation to both ground floor rooms, and also some decoration to the wall timbers. The fact that, according to the RCHM survey notes, the walls were covered with 17th century panelling may help to explain the survival of this relatively rare form of decoration. The timbers at ground floor level included a series of stout timbers, arranged in a close-studded pattern, with substantial middle rail. The detailed survey undertaken by Insite has helped to clarify that the close studding ran around the room, with an internal doorway, connecting with the older body of the house on the east side and no apparent external door. The close-studding survives to a considerable extent on the west wall, complete with window openings. On the eastern flank it has survived in fragmentary form at the north end. A chimney stack is shown at the southern end of this wall on the RCHM plan of 1933, prior to the fire. At the north and south ends the framing has been replaced by brick walling and an external door has been added to the centre of the north wall. Each upright is joined to the ground sill, middle rail and girding beam by a pair of dowels. At first floor level and in the attic the framing is more complete, with small framing surviving to the north, south and east walls with window openings, although with some new timber on the south side. The east wall has largely disappeared at this level. To the attic the timbers survive well, albeit with some later additional strengthening to the central truss which formerly had no collar. Original window openings exist to each gable and even some floorboards which may be original. A large proportion of the common rafters also appear to be original.
The painted frieze in each of the ground floor rooms differs: that to the smaller northern room is the better preserved and has a confident black outline of fleshy leaves alternating with tassels. The background is whitewashed and there appear to be traces of other, red and umber pigments. The fact that the timber frame of the building is covered externally by later brickwork and timber boarding is most probably the reason that its significance was overlooked at the time of the national resurvey in the 1980s. It is certainly true that the building has suffered from neglect and from the fire which destroyed almost all of the rest of the manor house in the 1950s. However, what remains is a timber-framed building of considerable quality and a counter-argument could be entered that neglect has also resulted in the retention of features such as the painted ornament to the interior and the moulded bressumer to the jetty on the west side. The loss of more timber to the lower body and the relative intactness of the upper part of the building is unusual but it is nonetheless true that a substantial part of the original timber frame remains intact. The lengthy history of the manor house at Monkland and the fact that it was well recorded in its latter phase in the RCHM survey in 1933, means that it is possible to assess its status as part of a well-defined group of manor house and church building. Moreover, this is a building of distinct quality which retains features of considerable interest and it was formerly part of a building with an extensive local history. On balance the building can be seen to be damaged but to have considerable interest and it is clearly worthy of designation at Grade II.
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