No. 8, The Old Farm House, High Street, Willingham by Stow, West Lindsey, Lincolnshire: Historic Building Survey

Photography was undertaken in digital colour using a 10.4 Mpixel format. Photographs were taken of the building to create an initial archive, and included general shots of the site and detailed photography of room arrangement; main elevations and constructional details such as window openings, and fixtures and fittings, such as doors and window fenestration. Weather conditions were clear and sunny all day. Low light levels necessitated the use of flash in all interior situations and included some fill-in flash to penetrate the shadows in the exterior shots. The photographs were further supplemented by Room-based record sheets and Brickwork recording sheets. Willingham-by-Stow has been a rural agricultural settlement, chiefly engaged in arable farming, throughout its recorded history. The Old Farm House is associated with a farmstead located within the historic core of the village and whose outbuildings once fronted onto the south of High Street. As the proposed redevelopment will destroy aspects of the original fabric of the buildings important to the understanding of their use and development, a scheme of building recording has been recommended, to ensure that such information is not lost. Historical research shows that the site was already enclosed and developed when Parliamentary Enclosure took place in 1780, and the general layout of the enclosure award plan, while not precisely surveyed, can be interpreted as indicating that the building shown as lying within the present application area corresponds to the 3-bay original building of the current Old Farm House. Physical evidence, such as the primitive nature of the roof construction and the lime-ash first floor, also suggests an early date for the farm. The appearance of the farmhouse has changed drastically in the second half of the 20th century. The windows have been enlarged and altered, the roof covering renewed and the exterior rendered, making its outward appearance almost unreadable as a building of historic interest. Internal modernisation has also removed most of the original interior fixtures and fittings including fireplaces and the staircase partition, leaving only the room arrangement, ceiling beams and a few elements of original skirting surviving.