Building record 4658/1/1 - Hyde Farmhouse

House, formerly manor house and farmhouse. C14 altered C17, C18 and C19. Coursed limestone rubble, plain-tile roof, brick ridge and end stacks. Hall house.

{1} House, formerly manor house and farmhouse. C14 altered C17, C18 and C19. Coursed limestone rubble, plain-tile roof, brick ridge and end stacks. Hall house. 2-storey, 4-window range. 2-storey, gabled porch to left of centre has round-arched doorway with chamfered stone head and hood mould, 6-pane sash window to 1st floor with hood mould, and stone-coped gable. Irregular fenestration of 2-light casement windows with wood lintel and C19 bay window to right of porch and C19 dormer above. 2-storey window. C17 extension projects to far left with gabled roof, brick end stack to front gable, a 2-light casement to ground floor and 3-light casement to 1st floor, both with wood lintels; formerly housed dairy to ground floor, now kitchen. Datestone to rear inscribed JH/1742. Single-storey lean-to bay to left gable end behind projecting wing. Interior: 2-bay hall and 2-bay parlour-solar at upper end. The hall has been sub-divided horizontally and has inserted stack backing onto former cross passage leading from porch. Parlour/solar area has central truss with arch-braced collar. C17 stop-chamfered spine beams.

{4} It is likely that the building was a medieval grange of St James’s Abbey, Northampton. The 14th century grange probably comprised a hall, through passage and solar above a service room, or rooms, on the north side of the though passage. This was added to a century later on the south side with chamber block, possibly of two storeys which could have been erected to provide an ‘apartment’ for visiting Abbey officials . In the late 15th or 16th century the hall had a fireplace inserted, was floored over and the porch added. For some reason, perhaps a fire or settlement, the service rooms and the solar above were demolished in the 17th century and replaced with a new rooms including a reception room. About the same time a kitchen was constructed at the south end abutting the 15th century extension. Settlement necessitated the rebuilding of the south side wall of the building sometime in the 18th century and whilst this was occurring the opportunity was taken to excavate a small dairy accessible from the kitchen.

{5} Three undated photos;

{6} An example of a Medieval manor almost entirely C14th in origin, the later addition is clearly defined, the site includes a circular dovecote to the service end, and a fishpond in the valley immediately to the south of the house. The house is a two bay hall with an eastern cross passage, considerably modified in the C17th including the addition of a cellar under the west wing. At this time the porch was also remodelled and the building of a two dairy was undertaken, this structure now houses the kitchen. The Manor of Hyde, in the fee of the Bishop of Bayeux? Was asserted prior to 1150, they continued to hold the manor until the dissolution. Based on architectural evidence the building was probably erected during the first half of the C14th.

<1> Clews Architects, 1980s, Database for Listing of Historic Buildings of Special Architectural Interest: Northamptonshire, 4/138 (checked) (Digital archive). SNN102353.

<2> List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest ("Greenback"), F10 (unchecked) (Catalogue). SNN45262.

<3> Woodfield P., 1981, The Larger Medieval Houses of Northamptonshire, p.182 (unchecked) (Article). SNN23550.

<4> Giggins B. L., 2017, Hyde Farm, Hyde Road, Roade, Northamptonshire: Historic Building Survey Notes, 2017 (Note). SNN110576.

<5> Photographs of buildings in Roade (Photographs). SNN113060.

<6> Brown A.E. (ed.), 1981, Archaeology in Northamptonshire 1980, P. 181 (Article). SNN100418.

Record last edited

Apr 25 2025 4:14PM