Cobley Hill Farm, Cobley Hill, Alvechurch, Worcestershire: Historic Building Recording (Level 2)

Descriptive Buildings Record (level 2) During January 2025, a Level 2 historic building recording was carried out at Cobley Hill Farm, Cobley Hill, Alvechurch, Worcestershire as a condition of planning permission for residential development of the former farm. The brick-built model farm is first shown on the 1883 OS and replaces the farmstead shown on the 1839 Tithe Map. No buildings shown on the 1839 Tithe map survive at the farm, however sixteen reused elm beams were found supporting the loft floor at the southeast end of the threshing barn. The beams contain diagonal trenches, mortices, peg-holes, birds'-mouths, and a single carpenter's number (llll) was observed; small and neat, typical of the C17. A C19 model farm roof elsewhere had wallplates which were also reused, having numerous mortices. Reordering of the surrounding fields is likely to have been part of the same program of work creating a new model farm to replace the earlier farmstead. A mixture of timber-framing, as early as the C16, and masonry structures can be seen in the near vicinity so the earlier farmstead may also have contained a mixture of building materials. The long structure, shown on the Tithe Map, suggests a barn with a porch on the northwest side attached to the farmhouse at the west corner. The smaller, detached building, on the site of the later byre/cowhouse, may have functioned in the same role. It remains unclear whether any of the lost buildings predate the C17 timber remains.