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Top Farm - Grade II Listed Building
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Heritage England, official list entry
Location Top Farm, High Street, Farndon - SJ 41445 54552 Year listed 1 March 1967 Detail Farmhouse, now converted to shop and offices, mid 17thc altered, of local brown brick on projecting sandstone plinth with grey slate roofs. Recessed two-storey central portion between two cross-wings, that to the left of three storeys and that to the right of two storeys, altered. The wings are of small bricks of 17thc type in irregular bond with plain projecting bands at 1st floor. The left cross-wing has shaped gables to front and rear with plain projecting cornices of brick. The central portion is recased in larger brick, Flemish bond. Doors and windows altered, but some in unaltered openings: the left crosswing has a two-light window of four-pane flush sashes to lower storey and one 20thc casement to each storey above; the central portion has a recessed porch in each corner with a three-light and eight-pane sash between and a four-pane sash to upper storey; the right wing has similar sashes on lower and upper storeys. Shaped lateral chimney of brick, probably 17thc, on left cross-wing. Interior: Altered inglenook with hoodbeam behind left porch; shaped oak handrail and splat balusters at stair head in left wing; framed partition has wattle and daub panels in upper storey of right wing; all else is altered.
Farndon: The History of a Cheshire Village, Frank A. Latham (Ed.)Page 67; Quite a number also kept several cows which were driven to the small crofts on the edges of the village in summer. The three largest farms in Farndon were Top Farm, Bottom Farm and Church Farm but, in conjunction with the production of Ale, the Brewery was also a farming establishment.
Page 72; Top Farm is of particular architectural interest because of its Flemish gables. It is still owned by the Barnston Estate, and was tenanted by the Lowe family from 1880-1930, after which the Bellis family held it until the 1970s. In 1980 it was divided; one part being converted to a restaurant, and the other to a Craft Centre. The Craft Centre is tenanted by lan and Valerie Clarke, who sell a wide range of crafts, mainly hand made, and craft supplies. They have recently received planning permission to develop the outbuildings to the rear of Top Farm. This will enable them to make three downstairs craft workshops, with an exhibition and display area above for visiting craftsmen to give demonstrations. The Restaurant part of Top Farm is run by Ken and Liz Lamont and is called The Bailiwick—an old English word meaning 'justification or office of a bailiff.
Page 104; Examples of Grade II seventeenth century brick buildings are Top Farm House and Chapel House. Dutch gables are not common in Cheshire although other examples can be seen at Stretton Old Hall and Stretton Lower Hall. Carved inglenook beams are not unknown, but the form of moulding to the beam in Top Farm is surely unusual. Frank A. Latham (Ed.), Farndon: The History of a Cheshire Village, (1981) See the Links pages for the modern use of Top Farm and adjoining buildings |