Oegrove Farmhouse, Frampton on Severn, GLOS

Camilla came calling this morning to discuss the bids for grant funding for Lansdown Hall which she is going to submit on behalf of the town council next week. After a fun chat with Helena and I over coffee, croissants and pain chocolat, as one does, we finally got down to the nitty-gritty of the money numbers.

We needed to talk today because I will be busy this week, so despite wanting a day off it was not to be. When we had nearly finished our discussions, I suddenly thought that we could go all to have a look at a 'Building at risk' which Camilla told us about at the Preservation Trust meeting last Monday. We are both trustees and Camilla is the chair of the trust, so we work closely together in several different ways. She quickly agreed and so we headed off to the village of Frampton on Severn, which is about ten miles from Stroud, close to the Slimbridge bird sanctuary run by the Wildlife and Wetlands Trust close to the River Severn.

One particular building is concerning many people at present, and I had offered to take pictures of it which we can circulate for discussions. It is called Greycroft, thought to have a cruck frame within its building, and has been unoccupied for forty years even though it is in the centre of this very ancient settlement, which is now a very desirable location. It is possible that we, as the Preservation Trust, will try to influence its future so that the imminent danger of its walls falling down can be acted upon. How that happens is yet to be decided.

We did find both it and many other very old houses in the village, and I have posted some pictures of them here on my Flickr gallery, with the last ones being of Greycroft. We have been told that dendro-chronology of wood from a similar and adjacent house dates parts of the building to about 1485, and it is very likely that Greycroft is of a the same age.

We walked down The Street, a southern extension of the village most of which is built along a large, wide and extended village green, with small ponds, a cricket pitch and major mansions dotted around it. The Street leads past small cottages and more modern houses to the Church, a manor estate and a tithe barn.

Near to the church at the southern end of the village we passed Oegrove Farmhouse, whose named I found most unusual. I really liked this particular building as it remains pretty much untouched by fancy development and seems to be close to its origins as a farmhouse although I think that role has now passed. It is from a similar period to my parents small Georgian farmhouse in west Surrey, about a hundred miles away, and it is completely different in its architectural style, but it pleased me greatly.

Here are its details as found on the website of listed buildings:


FRAMPTON-ON-SEVERN, THE STREET,
Gloucestershire
SO 7406-7506

11/143 Oegrove Farmhouse
Grade II
Farmhouse. Early C17. Square panel timber-framing with painted brick infill on mostly stone plinth, unpainted brick infill to rear, brick north gable end and coursed stone south gable end. Stone slate roof to front, double Roman tiles to rear, brick end stacks and small inserted lateral brick stack to rear. Single range of 2 storeys and attic, probably cross passage plan. Small single storey rear extension and wing to left of C20, not of special interest. Three C20 windows on first floor set into
framing, two on ground floor flanking chamfered 3-centred archway in centre with C20 door.

Listing NGR: SO7453706838