Great Marlow

44. GREAT MARLOW.

(O.S. 6 in. ^(a)xlvi. N.E. ^(b)xlvi. S.E.)

Ecclesiastical

^a(1). Ackhampstead Chapel, ruins, on Moor Farm (see also (2) below), nearly 4 miles N.W. of Marlow Church. Only low remains of flint walls are visible. The building is said to have been rectangular, with lancet windows.

Condition—Bad; grass and trees are growing in and round the ruins.

Secular

^a(2). Moor Farm, 4 miles N.W. of Marlow Church. The Farmhouse is modern, except the S. wing, which is of the 17th century, and prob ably formed part of a larger building of about the same date; it is of two storeys and an attic, and is built of brick and timber. The roof is tiled. A House, now disused, on the farm, is of two storeys and an attic, built late in the 16th or early in the 17th century, of flint with dressings of thin bricks; the roof is tiled. The plan is rectangular, and the building is gabled at both ends; some of the windows have been altered, and two small lights in the S. gable are blocked. At the S. end is an original chimney stack of thin bricks. Inside the house is a wide fireplace with chimney-corner and oven.

An Outbuilding, N. of the farmhouse, is partly of 17th-century brick, and a Barn, S. of the farmhouse, is built of brick and timber, probably of the 17th century.

Condition—Of farmhouse, fairly good; of disused house, poor.

^b(3). Widmer Farm, about 2¼ miles N.W. of Marlow Church, and on the W. side of the main road to Oxford. The Farmhouse is apparently modern, except one chimney stack of early 17th-century brick. Adjoining the E. end of the house, and now forming part of it, is a Chapel, probably of early 13th-century date; the S. wall is of flint and stone with wide joints; the N. and E. walls are covered with plaster; the roof is tiled. It was probably attached to a large 13th-century building, and was of one storey with a vaulted cellar underground; in the 14th century windows were inserted; in the 16th or early in the 17th century it was converted into a dwelling-house and the upper chamber divided to form two floors.

The chapel is of especial interest as it retains many original details, notably the vaulting of the cellar.

The plan of the chapel is rectangular. At the gabled E. end is a large window of early 14th-century date, probably originally of three lights, now blocked; only the outline and a moulded label are visible outside; the arch is chamfered inside, and has a moulded label and remains of former tracery; above it is a pointed oval window. In the S. wall are three 14th-century windows, originally each of two trefoiled lights and tracery under a pointed head, with a moulded label; the western window has been filled in with brick; the upper part of the other windows has been blocked, and the tracery of the eastern window destroyed; the sills of both have been cut away for modern doors; the eastern label has defaced head-stops, the others have returned ends; in the wall, under the windows, are holes which light the cellar; a modern doorway at the W. end of the wall may replace an original opening: above it is a dormer window, probably of the 17th century. In the N. wall are two small 13th-century lancets, now blocked, visible inside, and a larger modern window. The cellar, now used as a dairy, is in two aisles and vaulted in square bays supported by three circular central pillars and semi-circular wall-shafts: the pillars have plain capitals with octagonal abaci and plain chamfered bases; the wall-shafts have grooved and hollow capitals, and stand on high square plinths; the arches are segmental and double-chamfered; the vaulting, probably of clunch, is covered thickly with whitewash. The oak boards in the first floor are probably of the 17th century; the timbers of the roof are not visible. A small Outbuilding, W. of the house, is apparently of 15th-century material, possibly re-used; the walls are of rubble. At the W. end a blocked doorway has a four-centred arch, and above it is part of a window; at the E. end, on the first floor, is part of the jamb of another window, all probably of the 15th century.

Condition—Fairly good.

^b(4). Finnamore Farm (see Plate, p. xxx.), 2¾ miles N.W. of Marlow Church. The House, now two tenements, is of two storeys, built probably early in the 17th-century. The lower storey is of brick and flint, the upper storey timber-framed with brick filling, and the whole building has been restored with modern brick. The roofs are tiled. The plan is L-shaped, the main block facing S., and the wing at the W. end extending towards the N. On the W. side the roof is half-hipped; the N. and E. ends are gabled. The original chimney stack in the main block is of thin bricks. A large timber-framed Barn, probably also of the 17th century, extends towards the S. from the E. end of the house.

Condition—Not very good.

^b(5). The Old Workhouse, about 1 mile N.W. of Marlow Church, is of two storeys and an attic, built of brick in the second half of the 17th century; the roofs are tiled, and hipped at the ends. The plan is of half-H shape, with the wings extending towards the N. In front the brickwork is in Flemish bond, and there are three dormer windows. The wings are lower than the main block. At the back, between the wings, on the ground floor, is blind arcading, with round heads to the arches. Plain axed beams are visible in the ceilings.

Condition—Good.