Listed Building record MDO27817 - North End Farmhouse, Motcombe

Early seventeenth century farmhouse, with mid nineteenth century north extension. Ashlar and squared rubble brought to courses. Gable-ended stone-slate roof with stone copings bearing square finials. The record for this monument has been enhanced with support from Wessex Water.

ST 84562751 17th century house with stone slated roofs and walls of ashlar and squared rubble. It is shown as
"Easthaies" on a map of 1624. <1>

'North End Farm' (nameboard confirms) a farmhouse in good condition. It retains, with the exception of one chimney rebuilt in brick, all its original features, including all the two/three light stone mullioned windows. Outstanding for the area. <2>

North End Farmhouse. C17 with mid C19 north extension. Grade II* (see list for details). <3>

<1> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1972, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume IV (North), 49 (Monograph). SDO99.

'(3) North End Farm (84562751), house (Plate 53), of two storeys with attics, has walls of ashlar and of squared rubble, and stone-slated roofs ; it is of early 17th-century origin and is shown on a map of 1624 (Plate 56) with the name ' Easthaies '. The windows, generally, have square-headed lights with recessed and hollow-chamfered surrounds and mullions ; in the lower storey they are capped by weathered and ovolo-moulded string-courses ; in the upper storey and in the attics they have weathered and hollow-chamfered labels. The chimneystacks are of ashlar, with moulded capping.

The W. front, of ashlar, is symmetrical and of four bays, with chamfered plinths and with a central doorway enclosed in a one-storeyed porch. The porch has an outer archway with a moulded four-centred head, a moulded square outer head, sunk spandrels, continuous jambs and shaped stops. Above the porch arch is an ovolo-moulded, hollow-chamfered and weathered string-course, and over this is a gable with a wave-moulded coping and a square finial. Within the porch, the main doorway is round-headed, with a moulded archivolt, square impost blocks, and moulded jambs ; one impost bears a scratched inscription of 1644. On either side of the porch, the bays of three-light easement windows are paired beneath gables with single three-light attic windows, plain copings and square apex finials. The string-course of the porch continues at a slightly lower level throughtout the W. front.

The S. end of the house is of ashlar ; it has a gable similar to those of the W. front ; the only window, in the gable, is of three lights as described. Symmetrically disposed above the gable are two ashlar chimneystacks. The moulded string-course of the W. front continues across the end wall, approximately at first-floor level. The E. front, of rubble, has three-light casement windows as described ; the first-floor string course lacks an ovolo moulding and has much the same profile as the labels of the upper windows. One bay of the E. front comprises a projecting stair tower with two-light windows at two mezzanine levels, and with a gable with a finial as before ; adjacent on the S. is an ashlar chimneystack, rebuilt near the top in brickwork. Rreset in the N. side of the stair tower is a small quatrefoil loop, evidently part of the tracery of a 14th-century window. The N. end wall resembles that on the S., having a gable flanked by two chimneystacks, but the lower storeys are masked by an outbuilding, probably of the 19th century.

Inside, the parlour has an open fireplace with a moulded, square-headed surround ; the walls have oak panelling with a moulded cornice. In the hall the fireplace has been blocked up and a small modern grate has been substituted. The former open fireplace in the kitchen has been partly blocked, and altered. The steps of the newel staircase are of elm.'

<2> Newman, J, and Pevsner, N, 1972, The Buildings of England: Dorset, 302 (Monograph). SWX1290.

<3> Phillips, A S, Various, Field Investigators Comments ASP, F1 ASP 28-JUL-77 (Unpublished document). SWX3817.

<4> DOE (HHR), 1985, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest: North Dorset, 74 (Scheduling record). SDO17644.

<5> National Record of the Historic Environment, 206373 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Feb 17 2022 3:58PM