Building record 6666/1/2 - Farmbuildings adjoining Middlemore Farmhouse

{1} Farmbuilding range. Early C18 with later alterations. Red brick with some burnt headers and with corrugated sheet and plain tile and slate roofs. Long range, probably 9 bays, floored in part. Left end adjoins farmhouse (qv); lower stable on right end. Arch leading to rear and 3 doorways on front, one in narrowed opening. 2-light casement to first floor centre left. Rear has various doors, double doors and 3 glazed and louvred windows to first floor. INTERIOR. Partly partitioned and floored. Roof of 2 tiers of butt purlins with tie beams and collars. Stable on right end has stable door and tile roof to front and slate roof to rear. Forms a complete steading and significant group with the farmhouse (qv) and together they represent an early enclosure of a midland clay parish.

{2} Middlemore Farm comprises a farmhouse and adjoining range of barns constructed of red brick and built in the first half of the eighteenth century. The farmhouse has a later extension to the north side which in turn has a single storey extension at its west end containing a bread oven and water heater or 'copper'. The house remains largely intact with alterations and additions throughout reflecting its continuous use for over 250 years. The barns remain fundamentally as originally built, though contain may later minor alterations and additions.
Though no maps survive prior to 1779 and there is no reference to the property in the Inclosure Award of 1752, the style of the house suggests a date of 1720-1740. The barns are later as they butt join the east end of the house. This implies relative chronology only, and stylistically they appear to be contemporary with the house. The eastern end of the range is a later addition and appears to be of mid nineteenth century date. To the south of the barns are the remains of stock yards enclosed by a series of brick walls. Most of these are now very fragmentary but appear to be of nineteenth century construction, though they may be replacements of earlier walls.
The development of the farmhouse can be divided into three main phases, though the development appears to be rather more complicated. Phase one consisted of a single rectangular block with three rooms to each floor, the stair well and a cellar at the west end, and probably had a single storey extension on the north side above the cellars that extend the whole length of the north side. Barns 1, 2 and 3 appear to be contemporary with this phase. Phase two comprised the alteration of the extension to the north side which may have involved simply re-building the north wall which is currently bowing outwards. The windows also appear to have been altered, especially the tops of the windows including those of the cellars. Phase three saw the construction of the single storey barn at the west end of the long range of barns and the addition of the barn at the west end of the house with the 'copper' and bread oven.

<1> Clews Architects, 1980s, Database for Listing of Historic Buildings of Special Architectural Interest: Northamptonshire, 3/10004 (checked) (Digital archive). SNN102353.

<2> Prentice J., 2000, Building Recording At Middlemore Farm, Daventry, Northamptonshire, (checked) (Report). SNN100005.

Record last edited

Jul 7 2011 6:39PM