Building record 6132/0/16 - No.66 Main Road (Ballad)

An 18th century house of ironstone and limestone with a thatched roof.

{1} Cottage. C18, incorporating earlier work; remodelled early C19. Uncoursed limestone and ironstone rubble; thatched roof, brick and stone stacks. L-plan. 2 storeys and attic, 3 bays. C20 window in centre of ground-floor, in place of original entrance, has wood lintel and 2-light casement. Windows on either side have original lintels but openings enlarged and C20 casements inserted. Central window first-floor c.1820, has arched head Gothick Y-tracery and leaded panes. Flanking windows have wood lintels and C20 casements. On first floor left side is a blocked pointed chamfered arch. Rear wing, C18-C19, two storeys with C20 doorway and casement windows with wood lintels. Interior: Stop chamfered main beams. Stone doorway with shouldered arch.

{3} Undated photo;

{4} Heritage asset survey undertaken. Original stair noted adjacent to the inglenook. Former copper or oven next to the inglenook has been removed, but fireside seat and small niche still present. The roof was rebuilt and re-thatched in 1986; only the chimney stacks and waney-edged trusses survive from the previous roof.

{5} The building was constructed in two main phases, with a house on the street frontage later being extended with a north wing on the east side of the building. The house has some door furniture etc that is likely to be of 18th century date and some of the rooms have wide floorboards that may be original. In the 18th century the house was occupied by Thomas Pinfold, a noted clock maker, and it is suggested here that the rear wing may have been erected as a workshop. At some point the building was subdivided into two cottages. The house became the home of the French emigres Baron and Baroness de Poly in the early 19th century. In the 19th century a single-storey outbuilding was added to the line of the rear wing and a small extension created to the north of the house, on the west side, forming what became a kitchen with bedroom above. In the early part of the 20th century part of the house was in use as a Post Office. It is not known when the house was subdivided to create the two ‘Clock Cottages’ shown on plans of 1965, although it is clear that Thomas Pinfold’s heritage was still being celebrated in the name. It was reconverted back to a single dwelling in the 1960s and lived in by the same family for many years, with further documented alterations taking place in 1986, including its re-thatching.

<1> Clews Architects, 1980s, Database for Listing of Historic Buildings of Special Architectural Interest: Northamptonshire, 13/182 (checked) (Digital archive). SNN102353.

<2> List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest ("Greenback"), F02 (unchecked) (Catalogue). SNN45262.

<3> Photographs of buildings in Middleton Cheney (Photographs). SNN112889.

<4> Soden, I, 2022, A Heritage Asset Survey of 'Ballad', 66 Main Road, Middleton Cheney, Northamptonshire (Report). SNN114259.

<5> Dr Cathy Coutts, 2024, 66 Main Road, Middleton Cheney, Northamptonshire. Historic Building Recording (Level 2) (Report). SNN116772.

Record last edited

Jul 10 2025 3:58PM