Listed Building record MDO14514 - Church Farmhouse, Trent

A farmhouse with a fifteenth century hall-house with cross-wings, running east-west and now truncated, at its core. The west wall of the building was rebuilt in the seventeenth century, and extensions added to the north and south. Another extension was added to the south end in the nineteenth century.

[Centred at ST 58901853] CHURCH FARM [T.I.]. (1)

CHURCH FARM: The house is of two storeys with attics, and was probably built late in the 14thc. or early in the 15thc. as hall and crosswings. Only the S. cross-wing of the original house remains. The hall was replaced by a short cross-wing probably in the 17thc., and the kitchen wing added about the
same time.

There is much 17thc. material visible externally, and some fragments of 15thc. work. The interior is mainly 16thc and 17thc.

A pigeon house, N. of the building is 17thc. Rectangular in shape, it is partly of cob-walling. (2)

Known as CHURCH FARM and scheduled as a building of architectural interest.

Description T2 correct. A well preserved stone farm house with no visible modern alterations apart from a slate roof.

In the upper floor of the most southern wall is a two light window of ecclesiastical type and on the adjoining East wall is a similar one but of one light. The majority of the windows are
mullioned in 17th C style though some of the mullions have been extensively restored.

The pigeon house at A is almost entirely of cobb. The nesting boxes are crudely formed but the building is well preserved and now used as a store-shed.

Graphical material omitted. (3)

Originally a 15th century hall house, with cross wings, but much altered and rebuilt, particularly in the 17th and 19th centuries. Now a farmhouse with associated ancillary buildings which include a dairy, a dovecote and a barn. Listed.

<1> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1938 (Map). SWX1540.

[Centred at ST 58901853] CHURCH FARM [T.I.]

<2> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments England, 1952, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume I (West), 257-8 (Monograph). SDO97.

‘(5) CHURCH FARM, house and outbuildings, W. and S.W. of the church. The House is of two storeys with attics; the walls are of rubble and ashlar and the roofs are slate-covered. It was built probably late in the 14th or early in the 15th century and then consisted of a hall with a S. cross-wing and no doubt a cross-wing also at the N. end; only the S. cross-wing, at the screens end of the hall, remains; there was probably a two-storeyed porch on the E. side of the hall, as indicated by the doorway in the N. wall of the cross-wing. The hall was replaced by the short N. wing probably in the 17th century and the kitchen-wing was perhaps added at the same time. The original cross-wing has a two-stage buttress at the S.E. angle; the E. and S. wall of the lower floor have each a 17th-century window of two lights with a label. On the first floor, the E. end has a late 17th-century window with architrave, consoles, cornice and pediment; in the N. wall at the same level is a 15th-century doorway with moulded jambs and two-centred head and the rear-arch towards the outer face of the wall; this doorway probably opened into the upper storey of the former porch. The W. end of the wing is gabled and has three windows above one another of four, three and two four-centred lights respectively with labels. The 17th-century N. wing, occupying part of the site of the hall, has a doorway in the E. wall with a segmental arch in a square head; above it is a two-light transomed window. In the W. wall is a doorway with a four-centred head and a square label; above it is a window of two four-centred lights with a label. In the N. end are three two-light windows. The kitchen wing has a doorway similar to the N. doorway of the N. wing. The upper room has, in the S. wall, a reset 15th-century window of two cinque-foiled lights with tracery in a two-centred head with a label and head-stops. Inside the building the N. wall of the cross-wing has three original doorways opening into the former screens of the hall; they have hollow-chamfered jambs and two-centred arches; the westernmost is hung with a 15th-century door; it has strap-hinges and ribs forming four trefoil-headed panels with tracery above. The Dining Room has early 16th century moulded ceiling-beams forming six panels; the late 16th-century fireplace has moulded jambs and segmental head. The Drawing Room has a late 16th-century plaster ceiling (Plate 59) of two bays with moulded ribs forming geometrical designs and floral or foliage designs as terminals; the central beam has running vine-ornament and it and the beam on the W. have a series of panels on the soffit with lions, roses, fleur-de-lis, butterfly (for Girdlington), dolphin (for Fitzjames), rose (perhaps for Young) and stork (for Storke); the late 16th-century fireplace has moulded jambs and segmental head. The room over the Dining Room has early 16th-century ceiling-beams as in the room below. The room over the Drawing Room has a 15th-century oak door with ribs forming three panels; the fireplace is similar to that in the room below. The window has 17th-century panelled linings with carved pilasters and frieze. There are several 17th-century doors. The room over the kitchen has a 17th-century fireplace with moulded jambs and square head; in the S. window is a glass achievement-of-arms of Young with the date 1615.
The Barn, N. of the house, was built early in the 18th century and has a roof of collar-beam type. Reset in the S.E. angle is a 13th-century head-corbel of considerable merit. The Pigeon House, also N. of the house, is a rectangular building of the 17th century and partly of cob-walling; the thatched roof is hipped. The Cottage, N.W. of the house, is of the 17th century and retains an original window with moulded oak frame and mullions. In the garden are a number of mediæval fragments made up into a seat.’

<3> Rigg, J, Field Investigators Comments JR, F1 JR 06-JUL-55 (Unpublished document). SWX1255.

<4> Historic England, Historic England Archive, OS55/F172/7 (Index). SDO14738.

14/15 - 17THC CHURCH FARM AT TRENT FROM NORTH WEST.

<5> Mr Harris, 1955, Oral Mr Harris 6.7.55. Tenant (Verbal communication). SDO17783.

<6> National Record of the Historic Environment, 196029 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Aug 22 2024 3:36PM