Building record 4679/5/2 - Outbuildings Associated With Grafton House

{2} The site is occupied by a series of barns, in varying stages of dereliction, associated with Grafton House immediately to the south. Photographs.
The entire site is disused and overgrown; the buildings are in a state of disrepair and no access was possible. There is a long range of barns; the eastern two-storey block is constructed of limestone with an asbestos roof with a low double barn door. Adjoining is a long two-storey barn also constructed of limestone, with a corrugated iron roof. At right angles to the south is a further single-storey barn with a slate roof, and a further single storey barn adjoins the long range, also with a slate roof. To the south is a walled stockyard.
In 1793 Simon Stubbs sought permission from The Duke of Grafton to build an inn on the land, probably as a response to the start of canal construction opposite. Additionally the road through Blisworth was registered as a turnpike in 1794, due to the expected increase in traffic from the new canal. Stubbs leased the inn from the Duke of Grafton in 1798 for a period of 21 years. The lease mentions that Stubbs had built the inn, stables and other outbuildings out of his own pocket. A further barn was built in 1800. It is not known whether the barns on the current site were contemporary with the inn or were built at this slightly later date. Certainly by the 1808 Inclosure Map they are in existence. Little detail to either side of the main building is visible, although the area to the north appears to be fairly open, probably functioning as a yard.
The Grafton Arms closed within a few years after the end of the turnpike system in 1873 and the house was converted to a private residence by Joseph Westley, who was listed in the 1881 census as a miller, farmer, baker and merchant. Blisworth corn mill was built in 1879 by Westley opposite the house, replacing the old mill and bakehouse, which had been damaged by fire.
The Grafton Estate encountered severe difficulties after WWI and Grafton House was sold in October 1919 to the Westley family. The sales catalogue lists the outbuildings associated with the house but does not provide a detailed plan. Present were nag and cart horse stabling with harness room and loft over, a good barn, two foddering yards and a slated open shed (now enclosed), another cart horse stable and covered way, a stone and tiled five-room cottage, boiling house, coach house, cart shed, cow house, hen roost, two pig styes and a large rickyard. Some of the buildings listed will have been part of the now demolished range to the rear of the main house.

{3} The buildings surveyed as part of this assessment comprise a range of stables and barns which are historically associated with Grafton house (formerly The Grafton Arms inn). They consist of a larger, central structure with smaller ancillary buildings and extensions to the east, west and south. The earlier structures are built with coursed limestone rubble and dressed blocks with brick repairs while the later west and south extensions are a mix of brick and coursed limestone. The south elevation of the west extensions was later rebuilt in modern breeze block. The remains of earlier, coursed limestone structures can be seen to the south-west of the surveyed buildings. A C20th lean-to with corrugated iron roof supported on square section posts is present at the north of the site, built against the main range. The construction of the lean-to was accompanied by a blocking of a window in this part of the north elevation.
It is probable that the main barn and stables were re-roofed in the mid C19th, contemporary with the construction of the later stables. The timbers making up the trusses and roof structures in these buildings were rather too clean cut for a building constructed around 1800. Machine sawn timbers of this date would have a rougher finish than those present. The corrugated iron sheeting on the roof is of a mid C19th date. The corrugated asbestos roofing over the Loft is of a mid C20th date.
Details of each functional area, plans, elevations and photographs p.8-32.
The buildings surveyed were originally part of a larger complex of buildings which included pigstyes, cow house, hen roost, boiling house and foddering yards. The construction of these began in the very late C18th to early C19th with the opening of The Grafton Arms Inn in 1793. The inn closed in 1873 and was converted to a private residence.
There is evidence for a mid C19th phase of re-roofing of the main structures probably contemporary with the construction of the smaller stables. It is possible that this phase of works relates to the conversion of the inn to a private residence. The Harness Room and Loft were re-roofed at a later date with corrugated asbestos sheets.
Financial difficulties led to the sale of Grafton House in 1919. It is unclear when the surveyed buildings were separated from the house and left derelict.

<1> SOUTH NORTHAMPTONSHIRE COUNCIL, 2012, South Northamptonshire Council Survey of Significant Historic Buildings, (checked) (Catalogue). SNN108984.

<2> Walker C., 2011, Archaeological Desk-Based Assessment of Land at Gayton Road, Blisworth, p.3-6 (checked) (Report). SNN108139.

<3> Bassir A., 2013, Archaeological Building Recording at Land Adjacent to Grafton House, Blisworth, Northamptonshire, April 2013, p.7-32 (checked) (Report). SNN109868.

Record last edited

Jun 10 2019 11:03AM