Building record 1864/1 - Rookery Farmhouse, Rookery Farm

<1> English Heritage, 2005, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, 55744 (Digital Archive). SCH4666.

Farmhouse: early seventeenth century with later small additions and some twentieth century alterations. Timber framed with brick and plastered nogging. Additions in washed brick. Plastic tile roof, one gable and one central ridge brick chimney. Lobby-entry plan with crosswing. Two-storey, four-bay front. Framing of two levels of tall rectangular panels with angle braces above, passing braces below. Right end bay is a projecting gabled wing with two small inserted windows. Truss of tiebeam, studs, collar and two diagonal struts above. Adjacent is lean-to porch with twentieth century door, two and three-light casements in remainder with one in flat roofed dormer. To rear crosswing shows small-framing, slightly jettied tiebeam with dentilated lower edge. Similar treatment to sill now partly blocked original window. Brick lean-to s to side and rear. Interior: entry against ashlar sandstone baffle. Hall to left has moulded stone heck post and bead moulded wooden bressumer. Similar moulding to ceiling beam which is carried on a chamfered and stopped post. Similar beam and post in the parlour. Two, four-board doors with iron strap hinges.

<2> Nexus Heritage, 2022, Lane at Flat Lane, Kelsall, Cheshire: Heritage Summary, R4676 (Client Report). SCH9400.

The farmhouse is a relatively large residence dating to the 17th century. The brick-built barns, of 19th century date, constitute a coherent group within the curtilage of the dwelling and contribute to its significance. The historic farmyard buildings exhibit the material composition of, and retain the overall form of, a recognisable, traditional parallel layout and may be considered to be curtilage listed. The farmyard is joined to the wider communication network by a historic access-way to Flat Lane and is visually associated with the fields, to which it has a historic but no longer functional relationship.

<3> Fenix Heritage, 2023, Rookery Farm, Flat Lane, Kelsall, Cheshire, CW6 0RH: Historic Desk-Based Assessment, R4703 (Client Report). SCH9459.

Desk based assessment produced in 2023 in support of a proposed application for re-development at Rookery Farm, Flat Lane, Kelsall. The Grade II Listed farmhouse, the farmyard buildings and boundary wall, as far as can be ascertained, had until the early 21st century been a continuously operating steading since at least the late 18th century. Cartographic evidence indicates that the brick built cow-house appears to date from at least the mid-19th century and the stable from the second half of the 19th century.

Probably the earliest depiction of Rookery farm is a plan of Kelsall Tenements of 1735. The farmhouse is depicted along with two other structures. One of the structures is located to the south-west of the farmhouse, it is long and narrow, aligned north-south and is on the approximate location of the existing cow-house (CHER 1864/1/1) although appears to be centred a little to the north of the existing building suggesting it was probably replaced, by the cow house, during the 19th century. The second structure of the pair, located south of the farmhouse, is aligned east-west and is also long and narrow. This structure is not mapped on the later Tithe Map of 1838 and must have been demolished sometime in the later 18th century or early 19th century.

The farmhouse, cow house and a small ancillary structure, located to the south of the farmhouse are all depicted on the 1938 Tithe Map. The site ranges over four individual land parcels. The disposition of the steading is in a ‘parallel’ layout with the farmhouse detached from the cow-house and other structure, which are on identical alignments, opposite each other.

The three buildings are again depicted on the OS 1:2,500 Scale Map of 1876 along with an additional building to the south-east of the farmhouse - the stable (CHER 1864/1/2). The small ancilliary building has disappeared on the OS 1:2,500 Scale Map of 1899 along with a few other changes including a thin, projecting extension to the farmhouse extending from the west-facing elevation. The cow-house appears to have been rebuilt/reconfigured on different footprint and a possible pigsty has been built to the west of the farmhouse. The stable is shown with an external staircase on the south-facing elevation; it was common for seasonal farm labour to sleep above the stable, or indeed any farm utility building with a first floor.

The OS 1:2,500 Scale Map of 1910 shows further extension to the farmhouse and a large extension to the cow-house – effectively doubling its length. The dashed line to indicate the walls of this extension suggests it did not have walls and was an open sided structure.