 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
Hedgerley Village Survey
PROJECT 2009-4 : IN PROGRESS SINCE FEBRUARY 2009
AIM: To survey the listed buildings in the South Buckinghamshire village of Hedgerley, producing scale drawings and historic buildings analyses.
PROJECT TEAM: Peter Marsden, Marian Miller, Andrew Muir, Michael Rice, Hilary Stainer.
COORDINATOR: Michael Rice (Hedgerley Historical Society)
The village of Hedgerley, three miles south-east of Beaconsfield, includes no fewer than 12 listed buildings. The oldest is believed to date from either the 15th or 16th century - and one aim of this project is to confirm or deny this.
Hedgerley is not mentioned by name in the Domesday survey of 1086 but at that time it was a 'daughter estate' of Eton. Church records start in 1237. (Source: Michael Rice (editor), 'A South Bucks Village: The History of Hedgerley', Hedgerley Historical Society 2006
For each building the project team are working to produce detailed scale drawings of elevations and floor plans, plus a historical analysis of its development. Some funds are also available for dendrochronological dating. The results will be placed both in the BAS Library and on the Buckinghamshire Historic Environment Record.
Shell House
The team’s first target in the village was Shell House, a late 17th-century Renaissance house with a 1905 gabled extension. The puzzle is that this appears to be only half a house: where the standard 17th-century design would have produced a symmetrical facade with a central doorway, Shell House is asymmetrical. So what happened to the other half?
Fortunately scale drawings of the principal elevations were already available, done by students of the Institute of Town Planning. The team has produced two further elevations, internal floor plans and some documentary research: the house was built by Edward Penn, then owned for 120 years by the Curzon Estate. The analysis and report are now (October 2009) in preparation.
The
White Horse
Surveying started on the village pub in October 2009 with detailed measurements of the first floor... and the sampling of a few of the pub’s 'real ales'!
Many pubs work hard to preserve ‘olde world charm’. While this can lead to the preservation of ancient timber frames and other historical features, it can just as easily bring misleading later additions. The White Horse is believed to be an 18th-century building, mainly brick but with an oak-framed roof. The bar is wonderful with oak beams... but are these original?
The Old Quaker House
Probably the oldest house in the village, this has two full oak frames whose smoke-blackened timbers show they were both originally open halls. 14th or 15th century? An initial viewing has identified sufficient timbers for dendrochronology dating.