Building record 445/0/49 - The Poplars Farm

The current building has a datestone of 1672, which may be a rebuilding date from an earlier farmhouse or barn. Locally listed building.

{1} This ironstone farmhouse has a date stone of 1672, which may be a rebuilding date from an earlier farmhouse or barn. The current property has been developed since, and is two storeys tall and four bays wide, and there is indication that both window and door openings have been altered historically. It has a pitched, slate roof with to brick stacks at the apex. The current fenestration is modern top-hung casement. There are both ironstone and timber lintels used variously. It has a large ironstone boundary wall to the west and a brick-boundary wall separating the yard from the road. It has retained an agricultural character, including a barn to its rear. It forms a significant grouping with The Homestead (grade II).

{2} English Heritage has received an application to list The Poplars Farmhouse and barn at 15 Oak Lane, Crick. The buildings are not located in a conservation area.

The Poplars Farmhouse is a slate-roofed stone-built house with a 1672 date plate in the west face. The markings are 1672 W/E +G, which commemorates Edward and Grace Watkin. The Watkin family have been traced in Crick since at least 1663, according to baptism records. The house has been extended eastwards and remodelled in mid-C19 with the slate roof added; the oak lintels are thought to be original. The windows of the farmhouse appear to be C20 insertions.

Based on the information provided by the applicant, and with reference to the Principles of Selection for Listing Buildings (DCMS March 2010) and to English Heritage's Selection Guides, Poplars Farmhouse, 15 Oak Lane is not recommended for listing for the following principal reasons:

* Architectural interest: In spite of the date stone, the house would appear to be a C19 rather than a late-C17 house, with shallow pitched slate roof and brick chimneys, of standard form and appearance and without architectural distinction in national context. * Alteration: C20 alterations have replaced earlier, probably C19 sashes, with modern windows, and Google Earth images show a large, flat-roofed extension to the rear, apparently connecting the house to the barn. * Historical Interest: Although the date stone is interesting, it does not guarantee that the house in its present form dates to the C17. Date stones and the like are often retained upon rebuilding. The house seems to have been substantially modified in the early to mid-C19, and is shown as two dwellings on the Historic Ordnance Survey maps of 1885 and 1900.

English Heritage, Designation Advice Report, 15 Oak Lane, Crick (Report). SNN113190.

<1> Daventry District Council, 2020, Crick Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Plan, p. 65 (Policy Document). SNN112346.

Record last edited

Feb 20 2025 4:18PM