Hersham KT12 4BJ Price Guide 拢1,365,000 This quite fascinating Grade II Listed farmhouse dates back in part to Tudor times, retaining a huge amount of original detailing. The gardens are extensive, in part meadowland, measuring in excess of 1.5 acres leading down to the River Mole. 3 Bedrooms 路
3 Receptions 路 2 Bathrooms 路 EPC F
REF: 335872
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Property Profile You very much feel part of the Surrey countryside when you arrive home at Old Southwood Manor Farm. Quite simply a fascinating opportunity, dating part back to the Tudor times and occupying gardens in excess of 1.5 acres, in part meadowland, running down to the River Mole. As you arrive home you are immediately captured and overwhelmed by the atmospheric first impression clearly illustrated in all areas. For dinner parties and relaxing the three reception areas are distinctive. The kitchen/breakfast room is extensively fitted with plenty of space for a large dining table, the perfect spot for Sunday roasts or Christmas Dinner. There is also a useful utility room plus downstairs cloakroom.
Upstairs, all of the bedrooms are well proportioned doubles with twin bathroom facilities in a period style. An abundance of original features still exist which have been sympathetically restored and retained by our clients over recent times. The original granary on staddle stones is also an interesting feature. Externally the large timber-boarded barn could be used as a home office or alternatively it would make the perfect workshop. For those who like to play a little tennis, there is a hard surface tennis court which does require an element of tender love and care.
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Old Southwood Manor Farm - A Brief History Hersham as a village dates back to Saxon times. There was a manor house called Southwood as early as the 12th Century. Old records show that assize courts were held at Hersham and the judge stayed at Southwood Manor. Where precisely the manor house stood, or what it looked like, is not known and there is no trace of it now but it must have been somewhere in the meander of the River Mole that surrounds the present day farm land. Until the first half of the 16th Century the area was really a wood. But Henry VIII had the area cleared - he needed the timber for two big construction projects: 1. Building a fence to enclose several square miles of land in the area, centred upon Oatlands as a hunting lodge, to create an enclosed deer-hunting park. 2. Joinery work in the construction of Nonsuch Palace. This was near Cheam, but again no longer exists. One of Charles II’s mistresses won it off him at Newmarket races, and had the palace pulled down in order to sell the materials in it.
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With the clearance of the Southwood Manor land it became possible to farm it. The farmhouse is thought to have been built around 1580. This is because maps show it was not there in 1565 but it was there in 1590. A chimney expert was called in during the excavation of the large inglenook fireplace (circa 2004), which had been bricked in for many years, indicated that the property was considerably older than 1580. (Deduced by inspecting roof timbers etc.) The fireplace is very interesting and we believe it was bricked up after a fire had burnt one end of the beam over the hearth. At the right hand end of the beam are holes. These were for a ‘clockwork’ mechanism to operate a spit. Such an accessory would not normally have been installed in a house of this standing and so it is likely to have been owned by someone with wealth. To the left of the fireplace are the remains of a smoke room – the room itself being accessible from the 1st floor middle bedroom. In older times, the meat would have been hung in the smoke room – accessed from below by the workmen and upstairs by the owners. It is an entirely typical farmhouse of the time; a “long house”. The western half of the house (the left side as you approach it) would have
been for the family and the eastern half would have accommodated animals downstairs with a hayloft above. The house structure is very much in its original form except that its original half-timbered exterior that we associate with Tudor houses was given an additional covering of brick at some point. So now the walls are much better insulated than they would originally have been and giving structural re-enforcement to the original frame. Some of the internal walls are of “wattle and daub” as the panel by the stairs demonstrates. A high percentage of the original oak floors exist under the current wood floor boards. The cottage next door was built a century or so later than the farmhouse, probably as accommodation for farm workers. The cottage next door to that was a Victorian addition which has recently been extended. For almost 400 years, the house was a working farmhouse. One interesting relic of its agricultural history is the little room at the western end. This has its own outside door so the farm workers could come directly into that room (then the farm office) to collect their wages without tramping their muddy boots through the rest of the house.
Records tell us about some of the families who lived there. In the 18th Century it was occupied by successive generations of the Brown family. Apparently they gave their name to an enormous oak tree of considerable age which stood on Burhill Road and was called Brown’s Oak as a local landmark until it was destroyed by lightning in the early part of this century. During the Second World War the house and farm were acquired by the Poupart family who were market gardeners. They also owned a couple of other farms in the locality which have now been built on. The Pouparts farmed the land themselves until the 1960’s/70’s when they disposed of the farming interests but kept the farmhouse until 1983. The house is Grade II Listed and is one of the oldest buildings in the Borough of Elmbridge. The square timber-boarded “barn” on the corner of the entrance drive, sitting on stone “mushrooms” (referred to as staddle stones) is in fact a granary. It dates probably from the 18th Century.
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Floorplan
FIRST FLOOR
OUTBUILDING 1
GROUND FLOOR
Sales Enquiries: Walton-on-Thames 路 01932 247777 路 walton@curchods.com 79, High Street, Walton on Thames, Surrey, KT12 1DN
IMPORTANT NOTICE: We endeavour to make our sales particulars accurate and reliable, however, they do not constitute or form part of an offer or any contract and none is to be relied upon as statements of representation or fact. The services, systems and appliances listed in this specification have not been tested by us and no guarantees as to their operating ability or efficiency are given. All measurements have been taken as guide to prospective buyers only, and are not precise. If you require clarification or further information on any points, please contact us.
OUTBUILDING 2