| Description | Tree House Farm, Tong. Early 18th century stone house.
'Circa 1700 symmetrical fronted farmhouse. Two storeys, irregular courses of sandstone 'bricks', large flush dressed quoins, cavetto string between storeys. Stone slate roof, moulded coping to gable ends with shaped kneelers. Late C18 corniced chimneys. Originally 4 light, now 2 light, chamfered mullion windows in stepped splayed reveals, each side of a plain chamfered edge doorway with plain lintel. Above the entrance is an upright oval window with simple moulding carved out of 2 blocks'.
(English Heritage listed building description. Date listed 09/08/1983. http://list.english heritage.org.uk/resultsingle.aspx?uid=1087047. Web site accessed 08/10/2013).
Tree House Farm was the subject of an archaeological assessment by Colum Giles in 1980 as part of the WYAS/RCHME Rural Houses Survey. The sketch plan and photographic image produced by the assessment are held by WYAAS (Giles, C. (WYAS/RCHME). 1980). The fieldwork report is transcribed below:
'This is a stone house, dating probably from 1720 1730. It is of two storeys, faces south and is built of coursed masonry, quoined at the angles. The south front retains some of its original details: the windows have splayed mullions on both floors; a continuous hood runs over the south front above the ground floor windows. The main door is sited centrally; it has a square head, and a narrow chamfer runs around lintel and jambs. The jambs are still made up of four blocks of dressed stone; a later date might have given a single stone. Over the door is an upright oval window. Flat copings and shaped kneelers adorn each gable.
The rear of the house originally had an outshut form, but this has been altered in modern times to give two full storeys. All details at the rear are modern.
The plan of the house is difficult to reconstruct in detail, for all internal features are modern. The door opens against a central stair; this is unlikely to be original to the early mid 18th century, and probably represents a 19th century alteration. The door opened, perhaps, into the main room that was, the housebody, but it is now impossible to tell which room that was, for both south rooms have been converted to modern sitting rooms and parlours. Service rooms must have been located in the outshut at the rear'.
(Giles, C. (WYAS/RCHME). 1980. 'Tree House Farm, Cutler Heights Lane, Tong'). |