Granary at Wilton Farm

Summary

Granary, dating from around the mid-18th century.

Reasons for Designation

The granary, part of Wilton Farm, Marlow Road, Little Marlow, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* as a good, well-preserved example of a mid-C18 staddle-stone granary;
* it retains a significant proportion of historic fabric including raised timber frame, hipped roof, a full set of staddle stones at the base as well as the more uncommon survival of subdivided internal grain bins.

Historic interest:

* as a characteristic example of a granary dating to an important period of farm building development in England.

Group value:

* it has a strong historic functional relationship with the adjacent barn at Wilton Farm (Grade II).

History

Formerly known as Little Marlow Farm, Wilton Farm is located at the north end of the village of Little Marlow and is likely to have originated in the late C17 or early C18. The farm buildings are partially indicated on Jefferys map of Buckinghamshire dating from 1770. The earliest mapping evidence for the granary and the barn dates from the first half of the C19, where they both appear on an 1821 Inclosure map and the Little Marlow Tithe Map of 1846. The granary is visible on both maps as a small rectangular structure, located to the west of the large, L-shaped barn and north-west of the farmhouse which fronted onto Marlow Road. The accompanying apportionment notes that the farmhouse, outbuildings, yards and gardens were owned by Sir George Nugent, baronet, and occupied by tenant farmer William Morris. The manor of Little Marlow, including Little Marlow Farm, had been acquired by Nugent in 1810, and was subsequently incorporated into the Westhorpe Estate. The latter’s manorial seat was located 1km south-west of Little Marlow at Westhorpe House, which had been built in the early C18 by James Chase, MP for Great Marlow.

In 1860, Little Marlow Farm encompassed 316 acres and was advertised for sale as part of the Westhorpe Estate. At that time, the 2,105-acre estate comprised Westhorpe House, Little Marlow Manor House, six farms, woodland and arable land and most of the village of Little Marlow including cottages, tenements and the King’s Head Inn. The estate was sold in its entirety to the trustees of John Pattison Ellames and descended with the family until 1917, when it was subdivided and advertised for sale at auction. Little Marlow Farm, a ‘useful mixed farm’ of 219 acres with ‘good house and buildings’, was sold for £5,200 (‘Notice of Sale of the Little Marlow Estate’, Reading Mercury, 20 October 1917 and ‘Sale of the historic Little Marlow Estate’, Reading Mercury, 27 October 1917).

The farmhouse was demolished sometime during the C20, presumably due to road widening. A new farmhouse was subsequently erected further to the east.

The timber-framed aisled barn is thought to date from the C17 or C18 and is considered to be the oldest structure on the site.

The structural evidence of the granary indicates that the building dates to around the mid-C18. Four historic grain bins survive within the interior; they are subdivided with match boarding which indicates a later C19 phase. The granary underwent some repair works during the latter part of the C20. On the east elevation the sill beam and a small number of the rails were replaced. Small new sections of the timber were also spliced into the lower parts of the door posts. The brickwork was also reset into new mortar. Internally, a small number of the rafters have been replaced with machined timbers.

Details

Granary, dating from around the mid-C18.

MATERIALS: the granary is a timber-framed structure with brick infill, mounted on limestone staddle stones beneath a clay tile roof.

PLAN: the building stands to the south-west of Wilton barn and faces east. It is rectangular in plan and consists of a single room subdivided by low-level partitions.

EXTERIOR: a detached, single-storey building topped by a hipped roof with a short ridgeline. The structure has exposed timber-framing with vertical studs and straight diagonal bracing, infilled with brick. Most of the brick nogging has been lost on the north and west elevations, revealing the vertical close boarding inside. The granary stands on a complete set of nine mushroom-shaped staddle stones, a maximum of 50cm in height. The staddles have smooth, finely tooled stems and evenly shaped caps. Only the caps are visible on the north and west elevations due to the raised ground level. The elevated entrance is located on the east elevation; no step access survives. There is a plank door with a small opening for the farm cats (now blocked). A substantial floor beam running east to west is visible beneath the door. There appears to be a small window opening on the south elevation, now blocked by the internal boarding.

INTERIOR: the granary contains four grain bins: two each side of the central walkway, subdivided by two low-level sloping partitions. The doors to the bins are missing but the grooved channels remain. The partitioning is mainly composed of beaded horizontal match boarding. Close-fitting timber boards line the wall and the floor. The roof structure consists of a substantial tie beam with rafters above, converging at a thin ridge piece. The soffit of the tie beam has mortises which may indicate there was an earlier partition subdividing the interior.

Sources

Books and journals
A Study of the Staddle Stone Granary in Hampshire in Proceedings Hampshire Field Club Archaeological Society , ,Vol. 45, (1989), 183-185

Websites
Thomas Jeffery's Map of The County of Buckingham 1770, accessed 06/01/2025 from https://digital.library.yale.edu/catalog/15309148
South East Farmsteads Character Statement 2014 (English Heritage), accessed 06/01/2025 from https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/south-east-farmsteads-character-statement/se-farmsteads-guidance/

Other
Little Marlow Tithe Map 1846 (Buckinghamshire Archives Tithe/260)
Little Marlow Inclosure Award and Map 1821 (Buckinghamshire Archives IR/57B)
‘Manorial Estate of Westhorpe’, The Bucks Herald, 7 July 1860
‘Withdrawal of Sale by Auction of the Westhorpe Estate, Little Marlow’, The Times, 2 July 1860
‘Notice of Sale of the Little Marlow Estate’, Country Life, 15 September 1917
‘Notice of Sale of the Little Marlow Estate’, Reading Mercury, 20 October 1917
‘Sale of the historic Little Marlow Estate’, Reading Mercury, 27 October 1917

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