Building record MDO46161 - Prospect Farmhouse, Swanage

A three-storey detached farmhouse of three bays. It is constructed of Purbeck rubble stone which is brought to course, and its roadside (south) elevation is rendered and painted. The pitched roof is clad in slate and there are end gable chimneystacks of red brick. The house is rectangular on plan with a late-20th or early-21st century conservatory attached to its east gable end, and lean-to additions to the rear and west gable end. On stylistic evidence the house is considered to be of late-18th / early-19th century date. The footprint of the house has been altered since the mid-19th century. The building was assessed for listing in 2010 but failed to meet the required criteria.

Prospect Farm is situated on the western outskirts of Swanage in what was formerly an agricultural area but is now principally an area of suburban development. The farm was part of the Encombe Estate until the late 20th century when the farmhouse was sold. On stylistic evidence the house is considered to be of late-18th / early-19th century date. The Tithe map of 1839 depicts the farmhouse together with a range of farm buildings to the west. The footprint of the house has been altered since the mid-19th century with the addition of an entrance porch, a conservatory to the east and lean-to extensions to the west and the rear. Comparisons between the tithe map and later Ordnance Survey maps indicates that the farm buildings shown on the early maps were mostly demolished in the late 19th / early 20th century and replaced with a range of agricultural buildings slightly to the north.

Prospect Farm is a three-storey detached house of three bays. It is constructed of Purbeck rubble stone which is brought to course, and its roadside (south) elevation is rendered and painted. The pitched roof is clad in slate and there are end gable chimneystacks of red brick. The house is rectangular on plan with a late-20th or early-21st century conservatory attached to its east gable end, and lean-to additions to the rear and west gable end.

EXTERIOR: The symmetrical entrance front (south) has three windows to the first floor and second floors, and two windows and a central entrance door with a porch to the ground floor. All these windows are early-21st century replacements and have uPVC frames. Both the end gables show evidence of brick repairs to the masonry walls and several window openings have been blocked. To the rear is a lean-to addition. Here, a number of the windows are set below lintels of Purbeck stone, some have concrete lintels, and there are lintels of rubbed brick to the windows on the upper floor. The INTERIOR was not seen.

To the west of the house is a group of farm buildings which form three sides of a yard. They comprise an L-shaped, single-storey range which has an earlier building, built sometime between 1839 and 1889, forming its west side; and a small detached stone building, possibly pigsties, on the east side of the yard which is depicted on the tithe map. All are constructed of coursed Purbeck stone with plain tile roofs, except for the building to the east which has a roof of Purbeck stone. There are wooden windows throughout, although all have lost their glazing, and there are plank doors, including a small taking-in door set in the eaves of the western part of the range. The main range, probably a range of cowsheds with stables in the western part, has some internal partition walls of brick, but no historic fittings survive and its roof is of machine-cut timber.

The Principles of Selection for Listing Buildings (March 2010), state that buildings dating from before 1840 which survive close to their original condition are generally good candidates for listing. The general principles used are that before 1700, all buildings that contain a significant proportion of their original fabric are listed; from 1700 to 1840, most buildings are listed; and after 1840, because of the greatly increased number of buildings erected and the much larger numbers that have survived, progressively greater selection is necessary. The English Heritage Selection Guide for Domestic Buildings (Vernacular) (2007) gives further guidance on the selection of dwellings for designation: vernacular buildings in particular need to show evidence of their building history in the retention of their plan form, fabric, construction and decorative detail, and show a good degree of intactness. The English Heritage Selection Guide for Agricultural Buildings (2007) also suggests factors which are important in the consideration of barns. The period 1840-1880, from which the building under consideration dates was an age of increasing demand and technological change in agriculture: selection of buildings from these dates is made on grounds of innovation, intactness and architectural quality.

Prospect Farm comprises buildings dating from the late 18th / early 19th century through to the early 20th century.

Altogether it forms an interesting ensemble illustrative of a vernacular farmstead with some pretensions in the former farmhouse. Though handsome, the external appearance of the house shows that the building has undergone change over time. The windows have been entirely replaced, and several openings have been altered or are more recent insertions, such that the house lacks the aesthetic qualities often seen on domestic buildings of this type and date. The regularity of the roofline may also indicate that the roof, which is clad in slate, has possibly been rebuilt or heavily repaired.

There is evidence that the farm complex has historically undergone several phases of rebuilding. Most of the current buildings are either architecturally modest, and/or have undergone alteration. The cowshed and stable range is fairly sizeable and has suffered few external alterations but it retains no historic fittings within. Furthermore it is a fairly common building type and is relatively late in date. None of the surviving agricultural buildings merit listing in their own right. Prospect Farm does not, therefore, retain historic agricultural buildings of any significance and so the former farmhouse does not form part of an ensemble of significant historic farm buildings which might have added to its claims to interest.

The quality of the architecture of Prospect Farm does fall short of the standards necessary for listing but more significantly there are later changes to the complex, such as the alterations to the house and the farm buildings that detract from its character. That said both the farm is certainly not without merit and its local significance is clear enough: the buildings contribute to the local street scene and provide evidence of the vernacular traditions and former agricultural nature of the area. <1>

<1> English Heritage, English Heritage Listing File (Scheduling record). SDO17502.

Adviser's report on case 169517, in file 507903/001

<2> National Record of the Historic Environment, 1524362 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Apr 15 2023 7:21AM