Listed Building record MDO9660 - Quarleston Farmhouse, Winterborne Stickland

A farmhouse formed around an open-roof hall of early 15th-century date, with additions in the 16th, 17th and 19th centuries. It is likely that this building is the remains of the manor house of Quarleston, which is described as comprising a hall, a bakehouse and a kitchen in 1437. The building has walls of banded flint and ashlar, partly rendered, and tiled roofs with stone slate verges.

QUARLESTON FARM (83650399), house, stands 700 yds. S. of the church; it is of one and two storeys and has walls of banded flint and ashlar, partly rendered, and tiled roofs with stone-slate verges. In 1437 the manor house of Quarleston comprised a hall, a bakehouse and a kitchen the W. part of the N. range of Quarleston farmhouse, presumably the former manor house, still incorporates an open-roofed hall of the first half of the 15th century. The E. part of the N. range, separated from the hall by a through-passage and also defined by vertical joints, is of the 16th century. The E. range and a two-storied projection in the angle between the two ranges are of the 17th century. The W. end of the N. range and the S. wall of the E. range are of the 19th century. <2,3>

Quarlestone Farmhouse. Grade 2*. <4,5>

<1> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey map 1:10,560, 1969 (Map). SDO18658.

(ST 83650399) Quarleston Farm (NAT)

<2> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume III (Central) Part 2, 307-308 (Monograph). SDO136.

'(3) QUARLESTON FARM (83650399), house, stands 700 yds. S. of the church; it is of one and two storeys and has walls of banded flint and ashlar, partly rendered, and tiled roofs with stone slate verges.

In 1437 the manor house of Quarleston comprised a hall, a bakehouse and a kitchen (Hutchins I, 332), and the W. part of the N. range of Quarleston farmhouse, presumably the former manor house, still incorporates an open-roof hall of the first half of the 15th century. The E. part of the N. range, separated from the hall by a through-passage and also defined by vertical joints, is of the 16th century. The E. range and a two-storied projection in the angle between the two ranges are of the 17th century. The W. end of the N. range and the S. wall of the E. range are of the 19th century.

The N. range has, near the middle of the S. front, an early 18th-century doorway (Plate 68) with a moulded stone architraver with eared angles, a pulvinated frieze and a broken pediment with scrolled terminals; at the centre of the door-head is a square panel with drapery enrichment. To the W. of the doorway, the 15th-century hall, originally of one storey, has an 18th-century square-headed stone window of two lights. Further W. are traces of another opening, now blocked. At the W. end of the range is a 19th-century extension of one storey, the roof being continuous with that of the hall. To the E. of the central doorway, in the 16th-century part of the N. range, are square-headed ground-floor windows of two and three lights with recessed andhollow-chamfered stone surrounds; above them on the first floor are casement windows with wooden surrounds. Further E., the S. front of the N. range is masked by the 17th-century projection.

On the N. front of the N. range the hall has no windows. At the N. end of the through-passage is a 19th-century doorway; its E. jamb corresponds with the vertical joint between the 15th cand 16th-century parts of the the range. The 16th-century part has, on the first floor, a square-headed hollow-chamfered two-light window; all other openings are of the 19th century.

In the E. range, the E. front is rendered and has 19th-century windows in five bays and a 19th-century doorway in the second bay from the N. The W. elevation is of banded flint and ashlar; on the ground floor. To the S., is a three-light mullioned window with a recessed hollow-chamfered square head and continuous jambs; the other openings in the W. elevation are of the 19th century. The projecting bay in the angle between the E. and N. ranges is continuous with the 17th-century W. elevation and has eaves at the same elvel. About 1½ ft. higher than those of the N. range; the bay may originally have contained a staircase (cf. MELCOMBE HORSEY (3)). The projecting bay has ashlar quoins and a mullioned two-light W. window at first-floor level; below is a 19th-century casement window.

Inside, the 15th-century hall has, at the W. end, an inserted 18th-century open fireplace and bread-oven; the flat plaster ceiling, with a transverse beam just below wall-plate lvele, is also of the 18th century. The through-passage is separated from the hall by a plank-and-muntin partition, now largely concealed by rendering. In the attic above, and resting upon the joists of the 18th-century ceiling, a low timber-frame partition with wattle-and-daub infilling traverses the hall 2½ ft. W. of the plank-and-muntin partition below; it contains a small doorway with a cambered head; the top beam of the prtition is morticed for ceiling joints.

The hall roof (Plate 211) is of the 15th century. It is of three bays and has four principal trusses with arch-braced collar-beams; the arch-braces have ogee mouldings and hollow chamfers; a pair of curved struts rises above each collar-beam. On each side of the roof are three chamfered purlins. Midway between the principal trusses, subsidiary arch-braced collar trusses spring from the middle purlin on each side; in the subsidiary trusses the chamfered principals are shaped at the apex to give a rounded intersection instead of an angle. Betwene the lower and the middle purlin in each bay were formerly two windbraces; they have now gone but they are indicated by mortices in the purlins and principals; above, between the central and upper purlins, pairs of smaller curved and chamfered windbraces form pointed arches in each sub-bay. At the wall-head a fragment of roll-moulded and hollow-chamfered oak wall-plate survives.

To the E. of the hall, the ground-floor room in the 16th-centurypart of the N. range was originally a kitchen. At the E. end is a large open fireplace, now partly occupied by a smaller 18th-century fireplace; the ceiling has three stop-chamfered transverse beams. The roof of the E. part of the N. range has three bays with strutted collar-beam trusses and two through-purlins. The truss adjacent to the hall is filled in below the collar with studding and wattle-and-daub. Some trusses incorporate older material reused.

The 17th-century E. range was extensively altered in the 19th century and no early features are visible.'

<3> DOE (HHR), 1954, List of Buildings of Special Historic or Architectural Interest: Blandford Rural District, 22 (Scheduling record). SDO17701.

<4> DOE (HHR), 1985, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest: North Dorset District, 46 (Scheduling record). SDO17732.

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

<6> Historic England, Historic England Archive, BF087998 (Index). SDO14738.

QUARLESTON FARMHOUSE, WINTERBORNE STICKLAND

<7> National Record of the Historic Environment, 205741 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Aug 14 2024 5:09PM