Reasons for Designation
The farmhouse, attached barn and threshing barn at Upper Hill Farm are designated for the following principal reasons:
* Despite superficial losses and some alteration, the buildings represent good examples of C17 vernacular architecture
* A significant proportion of the original fabric survives within all the buildings
* Good quality carpentry is found throughout all three buildings
* The C18 elements within the farmhouse reflect the evolution of the building and add to its interest
Details
BREINTON
1819/0/10020 Farmhouse, Attached Barn and Threshing
02-DEC-09 Barn to the South At Upper Hill Farm
II
Farmhouse with attached barn and nearby threshing barn
HOUSE: C17 timber framed, two-storey house with possible earlier origins, C18 and later alterations and additions on the north and south. The timber frame is brick nogged and the chimney stacks are also of brick construction. The walls are part rendered, one is slate clad and the roof is a mixture of red tiles, slate and corrugated iron sheeting.
EXTERIOR: The northern elevation includes a pair of timber framed gables at either end of the building, separated by a slate catslide roof extending over a single-storey brick built extension of C19 date. The framing in the eastern gable is entirely exposed, but that below the western gable is hidden by the later extension. Between the gables and inserted into the red tiled roof of the original part of the house is a small gabled dormer window. The detail of the timber framing in the western elevation is not visible because it has been entirely rendered. This elevation includes a gable on the south with a squat cambered window above a modern hipped porch. Attached to the southern elevation is an historic extension which is part rendered and part slate clad. This extension has an asymmetrical roof profile and a projecting brick chimney stack on the east. The walls on this elevation have also been rendered, obscuring the timber frame. The eastern end of the building has had a small brick storey added. Attached to the eastern end of the house is a timber framed barn.
INTERIOR: Within the house a wealth of timber frame details are visible. In the original part of the house are: deeply chamfered beams, one with a stepped stop; wide plank doors with trap hinges; exposed timber framing throughout; a flagstone floor and some wide floor boards. The roof detail includes deeply trenched purlins with sophisticated carpentry carried on substantial hewn trusses. The timbers in the north facing ranges are also deeply chamfered and of good quality. All the fireplaces are of modern date.
ATTACHED BARN: Timber framed, three-bayed, two-storey building with some brick nogging, stave and wattled panels, weatherboarding and corrugated iron sheeting on walls and parts of the roof. The majority of the roof is covered with pantiles. The ends are part-hipped and the western end forms valleys with the eastern gable of the house. Lean-to attached to the eastern side is a late C19 timber framed shed open to the north and clad in corrugated iron sheeting and weatherboard. This lean-to is not of special interest.
INTERIOR: The interior is largely open with no fixed access to the upper floor. The roof structure comprises trenched, overlapping purlins supported on substantial trusses with straight raking struts above the collar beam, which is carried by another pair of struts which also hold up the tie-beam. The tie beam has been cut to provide access between the bays. Substantial floor joists set into enormous beams, some of which are partly supported by modern brick pillars and walling. Some inserted timbers, two of which have chamfered stops illustrate historic repairs. The Royal Commission for Historic Monuments recorded a cider mill within the building in the early part of the C20.
THRESHING BARN: A C17 timber framed, four-bay threshing barn. The walls of this building are covered mainly with weather boarding and the roof is of corrugated iron sheeting. The timber framed super-structure is essentially intact, stands three panels high and supports a series of trusses. At either end of the building there are simple trusses with four vertical struts, whilst those in the middle have a pair of raking struts and one has straight braces below which are tied into the main posts. A pair of substantial trenched side purlins, support machine cut rafters with battens and the corrugated iron roof. Several carpenters' marks are clearly visible. A small number of the timber frame panels are filled with broad wattling. The threshing floor occupies the area between the two tall, opposing doorways in the side wall. There are two storage bays to the east and a single bay to the west.
HISTORY: The farmstead at Upper Hill Farm was certainly in existence by the C17 and there may have been an earlier settlement on the site. The C17 farmstead included a house and at least two barns, but others almost certainly existed and would have been replaced when the farm was modernised in the C18 and early-C19. Many of the surviving courtyard buildings date to the C20. The barn attached to the house contained a cider mill in the early C20.
SOURCES
Agricultural Buildings Selection Guide, Heritage Protection Department, March 2007
Vernacular Houses Selection Guide, Heritage Protection Department, March 2007
(Lake, J. et al, `Historic Farmsteads Preliminary Character Statement: West Midlands Region', English Heritage (2006).
Royal Commission for Historic Monuments - Herefordshire, 2, (1932) 27.
PastScape No:- 108079
REASONS FOR DESIGNATION DECISION
The farmhouse, attached barn and threshing barn at Upper Hill Farm are designated for the following principal reasons:
* Despite superficial losses and some alteration, the buildings represent good examples of C17 vernacular architecture
* A significant proportion of the original fabric survives within all the buildings
* Good quality carpentry is found throughout all three buildings
* The C18 elements within the farmhouse reflect the evolution of the building and add to its interest
