Farmhouse at Lower Buckden, The Stubbins Estate

Summary

Farmhouse at Lower Buckden, The Stubbins Estate

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Monument Types

Description

The house has previously been cleaned and consists of surface gathered and some quarried stone walls with dressed quoins. Stone flag roof. 20th century doors and windows - externally.

(NT VBS Surveyor; 1987)

Building 1 (house)

Building 1 is a double depth, two bay, two storey house with cellar, which appears to date from the early nineteenth century. It is built from coursed quarried gritstone, of relatively high quality, with small edge-laid quoins, and the stone has been cleaned or blasted, which lends it a modern appearance; the east elevation is rendered. Door and window dressings are of monolithic gritstone blocks, while the roof is of Welsh blue slate with tile ridge, and there are two gable stacks. A small, brick-built rear porch can be dated to c 1900 on map evidence.

The front elevation is nearly symmetrical and has a pair of doorways (the right one blocked), which suggest that the building contained two dwellings originally. The four large windows all contain twentieth century casements. There are no openings in the west gable, but the east gable has a small window to both ground and first floors. The rear elevation has four windows; the top right contains a four pane sash window, which is probably original, while the bottom left window, which has a steel lintel, has previously been a doorway. The present rear entrance is via the porch, and has a monolithic surround, but there is also a second doorway, to the eastern half of the house.

The interior is divided by a full-height cross-wall, which may support the idea of two separate dwellings, but the present internal arrangements suggest the house was for a single occupancy, although this may be the result of alterations. There is a vaulted cellar, confined to the north-east quarter; and equipped with stone slab table; there is no indication that there was a second cellar to serve the western half of the house. On the ground floor the north-east quarter is occupied by a back kitchen and pantry, separated by a brick wall, and neither contains firm evidence for a fireplace for an earlier, second heated kitchen, although there is some disturbance in the east wall. Of the three heated ground floor rooms, none contains historic fixtures or fittings, although all have exposed beams. The stairs to the first floor are plain and of timber; a second set located on the west side of the cross-wall would have interfered with the rear doorway, and can therefore be considered unlikely.

The first floor is divided similarly to the ground floor, with a secondary partition creating the bathroom in the north-east quarter. There is now only one fireplace, a grate of nineteenth century date, but it is possible that the other bedrooms have had theirs removed. It was not possible to inspect the roof space, but it is thought likely that the cross-wall continues to the ridge, making a truss unnecessary, as is the case at the majority of the houses in the Estate.

(Stephen Haigh 2002).

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