Building record 2853/0/136 - No.6 (Wellington House Farmhouse)

A late 17th century farmhouse with 18th and 19th century alterations including a late 19th century wing to the rear right which was formerly used as a schoolroom. The building is now used as a house. The house is constructed of squared coursed limestone with a Collyweston slate roof with ashlar chimney stacks and parapets. It is two stories high with an attic range lit by a central hipped dormer window. The entrance facade has a three window range of three light stone mullioned windows to the first floor and similar four light windows to the ground floor. The entrance is to the right of the centre and has a moulded surround and cornice.

{1} Farmhouse, now house. Late C17, C18 and C19. Squared coursed limestone with Collyweston slate roof. Originally 3-unit plan extended with stair turret and parallel range to rear. 2 storeys with attics. 3-window range of 3-light, ovolo-moulded stone mullion, windows at first floor and similar 4-light windows with King mullions, at ground floor. 6-panel door, to right of centre, has moulded stone surround, pulvinated frieze and cornice over. Central, hipped, eaves dormer has leaded casement. Ashlar gable parapets and remains of ashlar ridge and end stacks. Ridge stack has sundial. C19 rear range, projects to right, and has C20 casement window to ground floor, with moulded stone surround. Thickening to base of left gable. Rear elevation has parallel range, to left, and gabled projection to right of centre. Lean-to to far right has oval window, with stone surround, a side wall. Interior: room to right has winder stair by chimney, and remains of open fireplace now blocked. Room to left has C17 fireplace with moulded stone surround. Early C18 stair around open well has heavy turned balusters. Attic noted as having plaster floor. C17 roof structure. C19 wing to rear right was used as a school room. (RCHM: An Inventory of Architectural Monuments in North Northamptonshire: p102)

{3} No. 6, Wellington House, of two storeys, originated as a class 2 (internal stack house entered by a door at the end of the living room farthest from the fireplace) house in the late 17th century. Early in the 18th century a gabled stair turret was added at the rear. Later in the 18th century a rear range was added parallel with the first, and in the middle of the 19th century a block was added on the east for use as a school. The original house in banded masonry has parapeted gables, an internal stack with a large sundial cut in it, and three and four-light mullioned windows with straight hood moulds. Opposite the west stack is a small oval window now blocked and the vestiges of another above. The entrance has a 17th-century moulded architrave of unusual profile (cf Thorpe Almhouses of 1668), a pulvinated frieze and cornice. The corresponding door on the north, now internal, has a four-centred head in a rectangular frame. A quoin on the mid 19th-century addition is inscribed 'Hilliam', perhaps a builder's name.
Inside the stair has heavy turned balusters and moulded string and handrail. The 17th-century roof, divided by a wall rising to the ridge, has massive purlins and no principal rafters. In an attic is a plaster floor.

{4} Undated photo;

<1> List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, p.54 (unchecked) (Catalogue). SNN40683.

<2> Clews Architects, 1980s, Database for Listing of Historic Buildings of Special Architectural Interest: Northamptonshire, 12/103 (Digital archive). SNN102353.

<3> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1984, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p.102/Site 45, Fig 131 & Plate 125 (Series). SNN77384.

<4> Photographs of buildings in King's Cliffe (Photographs). SNN112705.

<5> Historic England, Undated, WELLINGTON HOUSE, KINGS CLIFFE, BF084163 (Archive). SNN114377.

Record last edited

Nov 24 2022 9:16AM