Building record 0421401000 - RAANS FARMHOUSE

Manor house built c.1540 by Proby family, their arms over door (B2,B5).
Manor from C13 at least (0412:00). 2 stories, part brick, part flint with brick quoins. Roof tiled. Plan half-H shape, main block faces W. Some original mullion windows, see full description (B5).
Grade II. C16 altered. Red brick with clunch dressings. Old tiled roof, moulded brick eaves cornice. Two storeys. 5-bay front, with central projecting 2-storey gabled porch. Moulded brick Tudor arch with brick hood mould. Modern glazed door. Internal moulded stone arch with original oak door in situ. Carved stone coat of arms above entrance arch, 3-light stone mullioned and arched first floor window with stone hood and blocked 2-light windows to side walls and brickframed roundel in gable. Ground floor windows lowered, stone hoodmoulds remaining in situ. All windows 3-light stone mullioned type with arched lights and ovolo moulded mullions. Some replaced in timber to original profile. Gable ends have similar 4-light first floor windows and roundels on gables. Rear elevation has gable each side with large brick chimney to each. Central part partly of flint with remains of roughcast rendering irregular windows, some old mullioned and arched, some replacements. 1-storey rear wing, flint and clunch with some brick, altered but with block mullioned and arched windows. Interior: Original Tudor arched fireplace in front ground floor right hand room. Relocated oak panelling in entrance hall. Original moulded oak handrail to staircase at left-hand end. Porch room has C17 moulded oak cornice with modillion course, and rectangular facetted blocks. Exposed timber framing in places. Moulded plaster cornices on central landing and in first floor right hand room (B9).




[SU 98159837] Raans Farm [TI] (B11)

Raans Farm, C.1540, originally the manor house of Raans, two-storey, partly of brick, partly of flint with brick quoins, the roof tiled. Originally half H-shaped on plan, facing W., with projecting central porch in front and projecting short wings at the back, the wings are almost entirely replaced by modern additions. W. elevation: the gabled central porch is two-storeyed, the outer doorway has moulded jambs and four centred arch under a square head, with sunk spandrels and moulded label, all of brick; the inner doorway, moulded oak jambs and stops and a four-centred arch under a square head. The window above, of three four-centred lights with moulded stone mullions and jambs, under a square head with moulded stone label, is original. Other windows in the sides of the porch on the first floor are blocked,but the four-centred lights can be seen inside. In the apex of the gable is a small circular window, now blocked. Square windows either side of the porch on the round floor are modern. The upper storey has four, three-light windows, one of which is modern. The others are cemented, probably over original stone. Under the eaves is a moulded brick cornice, restored with wood above the modern window. A moulded stone plinth extends the length of the wall and is continued round the porch. S. elevation: flint-faced with brick quoins, has one gable, from the apex of which the roof slopes on the E. side to the level of the first floor; a small part of the original SE angle of the main block appears below the eaves. The irregularly-placed doors and windows are probably re-set. Below the gable is an original four-light window, now blocked, with moulded stone jambs and mullions and four-centred brick relieving arch. Partly under it, on the ground floor, is a modern window. Under the lower slope of the roof, on the E., is a blocked doorway with chamfered brick jambs, four-centred arch, and square head; E. of the doorway is a single-light window, and above it a three-light window with stone mullions and moulded label, all original. E. elevation: much altered, the walls almost entirely plaster covered. One three light window, now blocked, has original stonework and moulded label. Above it are two two-light windows, of which only the heads are original. A low projection at the NE corner is of old bricks, probably reused. N. elevation: of brick partly covered with plaster. The gable has a small circular brick window, now blocked. On the ground floor is an original two light window, and near it, a single, four-centred light. In the eastern extension are two original, stone, two-light windows with moulded labels, both now blocked. On the east side are two rectangular chimneys of original thin bricks. Inside is some panelling, original doors, and a wide kitchen fireplace, partly blocked. On the east side are two rectangular chimneys of original thin bricks. Inside is some panelling, original doors, and a wide kitchen fireplace, partly blocked (B5).

The Manor of Raans takes it name from the ancient family of Raan, from whom it passed by female heirs to the De la Groves and Brudenells. Druce Brudenell of Raans was buried in Amersham Church in 1489. Later the property and seat of the Probys; the Gowers, and now, by purchase, the propety of Lord George Cavendish. The manor house, an ancient building, is occupied as a farm (B12).

... Raans Farm, onthe site of the old manor of that name. Ranes or Raans Manor, originated in land held in 1166 by Geoffrey, 2nd Earl of Essex(B16). [Included in an account of the devolution of the manor, now [1914] in possession of the 4th Lord Chesham.] [A0/59/389/2] (B4).

Raans is the first of the six manors of Amersham specified in Domesday. Raans came into the hands of the Proby's some time after 1479-89; and the present house, which bears their arms over the door, was built by the Proby family (B2).

"c.16 altered. Red brick, old tile roof, 2 storeys central bay with ground floor porch. 2:1:2 c.19 3-light ashlar mullion casements, ground floor and central 1st floor dripmoulds. Porch has 4-centred chamfered arch with brick dripmould. Moulded brick cornice. Grade II" [Refers to authority (2)] (B13)

Raans Farm, name confirmed, fully described by the preceding authorities. Extent marked on 25" AM. GP A0/59/348/6: S. gable end from S. 7: W. front from W (B14).

As described. Not outstanding (B15).

NRHE Update 2013 (B17).