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Forest Lodge, Hatfield Forest
An L-shaped house of different building periods, situated at a point where much of the forest could once be seen and which was the home of the head forester or keeper in the C18 and C19, and perhaps originally built for that purpose in the early C16. Oliver Rackham (The Last Forest, 1989, pp.172-181, pl.20) sees it as a unique survival being the only medieval Forest lodge of which any particle remains above ground.
The house has three main sections: the oldest central part which itself has two building phases; a slightly later extension to the rear which adjoins the eastern part of the central section; and a much later boarded barn or stable which extends the central section to the west.
The surviving part of the original house is limited to the western half of the central section; Rackham suggests this may date to early C16. It has a solid and well-carpentered frame which contrasts with the eastern half which is more clumsily built and differs in its decorative details, and seems to have been a later build. In the older western half there are indications that it was the typical service end of a medieval hall-house (the usual dwelling of country folk from the C13-C15) with indications of the buttery, pantry, screens passage and a fragment of the hall still surviving. It thus appears that the rest of the original hall to the east, and perhaps a parlour beyond, were at some point destroyed and the present eastern bay of this central section is a patching up of what remained. Rackham also supposes an observation room or tower at the eastern end of the original house due to the location of the house with its open views and the later function of the house as a head-keepers or head-foresters house. He believes the house to be a unique survival of a medieval Forest lodge.
This whole central section is timber-framed on a brick plinth with a limewashed and plaster infill. Pantiled gabled roof with central large ridge line stack with recessed centre. Lobby- entrance plan. 2 storeys: jettied first floor on north elevation with timber sole plate and a central mid C19 six-panelled door. The east gable has zig-zag pargetting in moulded panels.
The extension to the rear has a brick plinth but otherwise a timber frame consisting of principal studs with a middle rail. Rackham dates this section to mid-C17 on basis of the thin bricks used in the chimney; Vernacular Building Survey dates it to early-C18 on type of principal studs. One storey and a dormer attic. The west side has a plank door and a patch of C19 brick to its left. Left again is a two-light leaded casement, but to the right of the door is a single light timber casement. One small first-floor window. The east side has a stack set to the right of the gable serving a bread oven inside. The south bay has a timber upper doorway to a storage loft. The principal entrance to the house is to the right where the extension abuts the original house and access is through a nine-panelled C19 doorway, the three upper panels glazed. This door has a sloping hood. Two C19 casements to its left. Some replica C20 zig-zag pargetting.
The stable range or barn was added to the western end of the original house in the mid C19 (Rackham, dating by map evidence) or early C20 (VBS). Pine timber stud construction clad with horizontal weatherboarding under a gables plaintile roof. The south side has stable door and a plank door both flanked by multi-paned windows. The west gable also has two carriage house doors. The roof is of early C20 rafter and side purlin type.
Status: Listed Building
Grade: II
The house has three main sections: the oldest central part which itself has two building phases; a slightly later extension to the rear which adjoins the eastern part of the central section; and a much later boarded barn or stable which extends the central section to the west.
The surviving part of the original house is limited to the western half of the central section; Rackham suggests this may date to early C16. It has a solid and well-carpentered frame which contrasts with the eastern half which is more clumsily built and differs in its decorative details, and seems to have been a later build. In the older western half there are indications that it was the typical service end of a medieval hall-house (the usual dwelling of country folk from the C13-C15) with indications of the buttery, pantry, screens passage and a fragment of the hall still surviving. It thus appears that the rest of the original hall to the east, and perhaps a parlour beyond, were at some point destroyed and the present eastern bay of this central section is a patching up of what remained. Rackham also supposes an observation room or tower at the eastern end of the original house due to the location of the house with its open views and the later function of the house as a head-keepers or head-foresters house. He believes the house to be a unique survival of a medieval Forest lodge.
This whole central section is timber-framed on a brick plinth with a limewashed and plaster infill. Pantiled gabled roof with central large ridge line stack with recessed centre. Lobby- entrance plan. 2 storeys: jettied first floor on north elevation with timber sole plate and a central mid C19 six-panelled door. The east gable has zig-zag pargetting in moulded panels.
The extension to the rear has a brick plinth but otherwise a timber frame consisting of principal studs with a middle rail. Rackham dates this section to mid-C17 on basis of the thin bricks used in the chimney; Vernacular Building Survey dates it to early-C18 on type of principal studs. One storey and a dormer attic. The west side has a plank door and a patch of C19 brick to its left. Left again is a two-light leaded casement, but to the right of the door is a single light timber casement. One small first-floor window. The east side has a stack set to the right of the gable serving a bread oven inside. The south bay has a timber upper doorway to a storage loft. The principal entrance to the house is to the right where the extension abuts the original house and access is through a nine-panelled C19 doorway, the three upper panels glazed. This door has a sloping hood. Two C19 casements to its left. Some replica C20 zig-zag pargetting.
The stable range or barn was added to the western end of the original house in the mid C19 (Rackham, dating by map evidence) or early C20 (VBS). Pine timber stud construction clad with horizontal weatherboarding under a gables plaintile roof. The south side has stable door and a plank door both flanked by multi-paned windows. The west gable also has two carriage house doors. The roof is of early C20 rafter and side purlin type.
Status: Listed Building
Grade: II
Metadata
- ARIADNE ID
- 11441798
- Original ID
- 1735782
- Language
- English
- Resource type
- Sites and monuments databases or inventories
- Original Subject
-
- FOREST LODGE
-
- JETTIED HOUSE
-
- STABLE
-
- HAY BARN
- Dating
- Place
-
- England [0.226223, 51.85198]
- Type
- Dataset
- Publisher
-
- Archaeology Data Service [Organization]
- Issued
- Modified
Responsible persons and organisations
- Contributor
-
- National Trust [Organization]
- Identifier
- http://registry.ariadne-infrastructure.eu/dataset/11441798
- Package ID
- 3025
- Provider ID
- 1104
License information
- Access Rights
- ADS Terms and Conditions
- Access Policy
- http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/advice/termsOfUseAndAccess
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