Building record 1083400000 - WARWICK FARMHOUSE, 31 BICESTER ROAD

Grade II+. Former farmhouse. Hall house, probably C15, inserted stack later C16, floor later C16 or early C17, extended early C17, altered and encased C18 and C19. Timber framed, clad in limestone rubble, thatched roof. Three bays, with two-bay hall and probable solar bay to north-east, extended by one bay to south-west, early C17. One and a half and two storeys. Southern bay, part exposed box framing, set back from main building line. Opposing doorways to former passage, in late C18 openings, boarded door to north, part glazed door to south. Timber casements, mostly C20, of two and three lights, but in C18 and C19 chamfered openings. Two axial stacks, that to south C17, central stack being late C16 and C19; internal stack to roadside gable. Former solar bay, ground floor, early C20 tiled grate. Flanking alcove cupboards, C18 and later. Upper bay of hall, stop-chamfered bressumer, longitudinal beam with lamb's tongue chamfer stops. C19 basket grate and timber surround. Lower bay, stairs set transversely across passage. C17 bay to south, with stack inserted into third bay. Upper floor robust rough hewn cruck truss between first and second bays, with short king post, carrying trenched purlins; possible former window opening on south elevation. Second and third bay arched braced collar truss with clasped purlins. Third bay formerly half hipped with evidence of former louvre. Fourth bay exposed box framing with angle braces. Two-bay smoke blackened hall roof, with probably C15 smoke blackened thatch retaining remarkable survival of plant species, including dethorned blackberry stem ties; unblackened medieval basal thatch to remainder of original building. One of the most important thatched roofs in England (John Letts), one of only c200 buildings in England with original base coat of medieval thatch (B1, B5).
Historic building recording carried out in May 1989 suggested that the farmhouse originated as a 3-bay thatched building, with the chamber in bay 1 (possibly with an upper floor) and bays 2 and 3 comprising the open hall. Traces of a smoke louvre exist in bay 3 with much original thatch heaviliy soot-blackened. One surviving cruck truss (Truss 2) is Type F1, and Truss 3 is an arch-braced collar truss. 8 samples from trusses 2 and 3 were taken for dendro-dating , but were unsuitable, 5 being of elm and the other 3 having too few tree-rings. The building is dated to about 1400 on stylistic grounds. In the late 16th century a chimney stack was inserted into the centre of the hall in bay 3 and the upper floor was probably inserted into bay 2. In the early 1600s, Truss 4 was removed from the end of the building and a 2-storey box-framed extension (bay 4) was added, along with a chimney at the end of bay 3, forming a passage between the two chimneys which now contains the staircase. In the 18th century, the timber-framed outside walls in bays 2 and 3 were rebuilt in stone, and several of the windows and a door inserted or replaced. Later on, the ground floor of bay 4 was cased in stone. In the early 19th century bay 1 was also rebuilt or cased in stone. The building was one of a block of farms belonging to All Souls College and it's documentary history can probably be traced back as far as 1543. See report for detail (B6).