Listed Building record MDO39128 - Little Toller Farmhouse, Toller Fratrum

[SY 57819738] Little Toller Farm on site of
MONASTERY [GT] (1)

[Not mentioned] (2)
Unimportant or unclassified grange, hermitage, larger chantry
etc. (3)

The property was acquired in 1540 by John SAMWAYS, and about this time the main block of the house was built, with the outbuilding flanking the E. side of the forecourt. The W. wing
of the house appears to be later. The porch is of the 18th or 19thC. (4)

About 1300 until the Dissolution Toller was in the possession of the Knights Hospitallers, and in the records at MALTA are entries relating to payments made for the preceptories of TOLLER among other places. Entries are made for the years 1522, 1523, 1524, 1526. In 31 HEN VIII the manor was granted to
John Samways with which family it remained until c.1600 when it passed to a branch of the FULFORDS until the estate was sold in 1762.
A great portion of the house of the FULFORDS still survives. The E. wing is traditionally alleged to have been the refectory of the preceptory, but the principal part was probably built by John SAMWAYS. The rest was apparently built by the FULFORDS.
"This place is one of the most picturesque of the old manor houses of this period remaining in Dorset". (5)
The manor of TOLLER FRATRUM had by 1300 been granted to the KNIGHTS HOSPITALLERS, who may have had a small presbytery here with a knight or two in charge. There was never any big monastic church here, and probably nothing more than an ordinary manor house. After the dissolution parts of the house were pulled down and rebuilt by the owner. John SAMWAYS. (6)

The farm is still known as LITTLE TOLLER FARM. (7a)

The main block of the house faces S. and is of two storeys. The building is of stone, and 3 Tudor windows exist in the upper storey. Other windows, and the doorway, are modern, as is the roof.
The W. wing projects to the S. and is obviously of later construction.
To the E. of the main block is a single storey building, rectangular and set in a N.S. direction. It is of stone; the W. face contains four 2-light Tudor windows and a four-centred doorway. The face has two string courses with ornamental corbels. The roof is thatched, and the wing now used as a stable.
The buildings are in a good state of preservation, and of 16thc. and later date.
The description in T.1 of "Monastery" is apparently incorrect, and the pre-dissolution building seems more likely to have been a manor house according to the best authority (T2 (6). (7)

Little Toller Farmhouse. Grade II*. The stable block immediately SE of the farmhouse is also Grade II*. (8,9)

The house has several high quality features including heraldic and ornamental carvings on the exterior including an octagonal shaft with concave sides at the south-east corner of the building with a spiral pedestal and a carving of a dragon on top. A spiral shaft between the chimneys on the front (south elevation) was topped by a carving of a chained monkey. Although not in situ, the carving of a lion clasping a royal Tudor shield on top of the porch over the south door of the house is almost certainly original. The two storey house is orientated east-west with a two and a half storey wing extending north from the east end and a two storey wing extending south from the west end. The house is one of a group of buildings, including a large threshing barn to the west (NHLE 1279339) and a 16th-century block, once a stable, to the east (NHLE 1228910). These form three sides of a loose courtyard arrangement.

There is no evidence that there were monstic buildings at Toller Fratrum but there may be some medieval fabric relating to a rectory or a pre-16th century manor house. The presence of a medieval church is indicated by the font and wall plaque in St Basil’s church.

Investigation was carried out in 2017 following a fire. The Historic England regional Planning Team requested a survey and analysis of the building in order to provide a well-informed response in advance of repairs to the house. The roof structure is particularly noteworthy and comprises two slightly different forms of collar-rafter roof. This was designed to support a barrel-vaulted ceiling of which only fragments survive. Dendrochronological analysis established that the eastern and central part of the roof was constructed from timber felled in the mid-1550s. Although the fire caused damage to the central parts of the roof most of the original 16th century fabric is still in place.
(10-11)

<1> 1866, Hutchins History of Dorset Vol 2, History of Dorset Vol 2. 1863 p.697 3rd Edn (Hutchins) (Monograph). SWX2155.

<2> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1903 (Map). SWX1540.

[SY 57819738] Little Toller Farm on site of
MONASTERY [GT]

<3> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1931, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1930, p. lxxvi. (Col.C. DREW) (Serial). SDO34.

<4> Hadcock, R N, 1950, Ordnance Survey Monastic Britain (South sheet) (Map). SWX3637.

<5> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments England, 1952, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume I (West), 251 (Monograph). SDO97.

<6> Quinnell, N V, Various, Field Investigators Comments NVQ, F1 10-05-55 (Unpublished document). SDO11903.

<7> Mrs H. P. Yeates, Mrs H.P Yeates (occupier) Little Toller Farm, TOLLER FRATRUM (Verbal communication). SDO17855.

<8> Knowles, D, and Hadcock, R N, 1971, Medieval religious houses in England and Wales (Monograph). SDO17348.

<9> Newman, J, and Pevsner, N, 1972, The Buildings of England: Dorset, 424-5 (Monograph). SWX1290.

<10> Department of the Environment, 1985, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest: District of West Dorset, 51-2 (Scheduling record). SDO16362.

<11> Arnold, A J and Howard, R E, 2016, Little Toller Farmhouse, Toller Fratrum, West Dorset. Tree-ring Analysis of Oak Timbers (Unpublished document). SDO14898.

<12> Winton, Helen, 2018, Little Toller Farmhouse, Toller Fratrum, Dorset. Building analysis and survey (Unpublished document). SDO16367.

<13> National Record of the Historic Environment, 450613 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Mar 21 2022 12:36PM