Colmoreham Farmhouse - 17 Ickwell Green

Colmoreham Farmhouse in 1924 [AD1147/16]

Colmoreham Farmhouse was listed by the former Department of Environment in March 1985 as Grade II, of special interest. The department dated the property to the 17th century. It has a timber framed construction with colour washed roughcast render to the exterior and a clay tile roof. It is built in an H-plan and two storeyed.

The house may have been built by the Lords of the Manor of Ickwell or, alternatively, have been acquired later by the manorial estate, known as the Ickwell Bury Estate. This Estate was sold at auction in 1924 and Colmoreham Farm formed a part of it at that date. The sale particulars [AD1147/16] listed the farm as follows:

LOT 11

Holding    .. .. COLEMOREHAM FARM (Part of) and WOODLANDS.
Tenant     .. .. Mr. W. J. BURR with Lot 31, parts of Lot 1 and 29 and IN HAND
Area  .. .. About 30 acres, 3 roods, 2 poles
Tenancy   .. .. Yearly, October 11th

An Important Compact Mixed Holding
adjoining ICKWELL GREEN
with Woodlands
comprising:
AN ATTRACTIVE BRICK ROUGH CAST & TILED GABLED DWELLING HOUSE
(recently modernised), containing: - Small Hall, Lounge Hall or Sitting Room with Tiled Floor, lighted by two windows, Sitting Room, Kitchen, Larder, Pantry, Three Bed Rooms and Large Landing with Box Room.

THE FARM BUILDINGS, brick and Timber Built and Tiled, comprise: - Wash House, Two Pigsties, Loose Box, Stable for Three and Chaff Box, Granary, Cow House for 10, Mixing House and Loose Box with Chaff House over, Six-bay Open Shed and Pigsty and Dairy. Detached Cart Shed in Stackyard.

Company’s Water.

THE LAND, which is good Pasture and Productive Arable, is suitable for Market Gardening.

THE WOODLANDS containing Valuable matured Oaks and other trees. 

Total acreage was 31.272 acres of which 10.613 acres was pasture, 16.60 was arable and 2.35 acres woodland.

The Rating and Valuation Act 1925 specified that every building and piece of land in the country was to be assessed to determine its rateable value. Ickwell was assessed in 1927 and the valuer visiting Colemorham Farm [DV1/H40/8] found it owned and occupied by C. J. Milton.

The small farm comprised 31 acres. The valuer commented: “No right of way from Arable on to warden Road – tenant must go by bad road to Ickwell Road. The Arable land is heavy. On entry it was exhausted by cross cropping. Purchase price £1,550 (1924) including timber”.

The farmhouse comprised two reception rooms, a kitchen and three bedrooms. A washhouse and earth closet lay outside. Mains water was laid on but there was no electric light. Drainage was via a cesspool.

Farm buildings comprised:

• A north range of a wood and corrugated iron garage, a brick and tiled dairy and a six bay wood and corrugated iron hovel.
• An east range of a wood and slate loose box, a chitting house, a mixing shed with a chaff loft over, a wood and slate cowshed for nine, a manure store, a wood and slate barn and workshop behind, a three bay wood and pantiled cart shed and a wood and slate open tractor shed.
• A south range had a brick, wood and pantiled stable for three horses, a brick and pantiled coal house and a wood and pantiled loose box used as a piggery.

 
17 Ickwell Green March 2010