NHER 49766 (Monument record) - Site of Erne Farm

January 2007. Field Observation.
Massive house, three widely spaced bays, two storeys, hipped pantile roof. Façade rendered. Base of central cut-down stack. Door off-centre to right with some sort of plaque above.
External appearance suggests 17th-century origin at least and could conceal something much older.
Shown on (S1) as Urn Farm but spelling Erne is probably correct in view of nearby Erneford Beck etc
First noted as of interest by K. Penn (NAU).
E. Rose (NLA), 26 January 2007.

August 2016. Desk-based Assessment.
Production of Heritage Statement to inform and support the proposed redevelopment of this site, which would see the demolition of Erne Farmhouse and its adjacent barn.
The buildings are both of probable early 19th-century date, with no evidence to support the earlier date suggested in 2007 (see above). The house has a datestone that reads '1817' and this date is consistent with the available cartographic evidence, with no sign of the farm on either Faden's map of 1797 (S2) or an enclosure map of 1817. A farm is though shown at this location in the Ordnance Survey One-inch map of 1817 (S3) and all subsequent maps.
The farmhouse is constructed from shuttered clay (i.e. clay lump), flint, brick and timber framing. It has a hipped roof and a central chimney stack, with the front door located to the right of the stack and the staircase at the far left of the building. Timber framing with brick infill panels on the building's west elevation is likely to represent a later 19th-century rebuild following the failure of this wall (the bricks being Victorian in form and appearance). It has clearly been subject to internal alterations, including the replacement of the original fireplaces in the 1930s. Its plan form is though largely intact. At the time of this survey the building had been vacant for a number of years.
The adjacent threshing barn is contemporary with the farmhouse and also built from shuttered clay on a brick plinth. It probably originally had a thatch roof but is now finished with corrugated iron. It appears a substantial number of roof timbers were replaced when this new roof was added in the early to mid 20th century. A large section of its northern wall has also been rebuilt using concrete breezeblocks. No original internal features of interest survive.
Overall these two buildings are deemed to be of only local architectural importance, principally as examples of shuttered clay construction.
An outbuilding to the east of the farmhouse and all the other farm building are of 20th-century date.
See report (S4) for further details.
An archaeological desk-based assessment produced at the same time defers to (S4) for its assessment of the architectural significance of the farmhouse and barn. The report (S5) does though include a number of additional photographs of the buildings, including a decent image of the 20th-century outbuilding to the east of the farmhouse (which appears to occupy the site of an earlier buillding visible on the later 19th-century maps).
P. Watkins (HES), 11 November 2024.

2018-2019.
The various buildings at Erne Farm - including the original farmhouse and barn - were all demolished at some time between September 2018 and September 2019, ahead of the redevelopment of the site. Unfortunately additional historic building recording imposed as a condition on the planning permission did not take place prior to the demolition of these structures.
See local press article (S6).
P. Watkins (HES), 11 November 2024.

October 2020. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of proposed development site at site of Erne Farm.
A trench placed to coincide with the site of the farmhouse confirmed that no sub-surface remains associated with this building now survive. Brick structures recorded in an adjacent trench do though appear to have coincided with the walls of the perpendicular outbuilding that had lain to the east. The recently demolished building had been of 20th-century date but had occupied the footprint of an earlier, 19th-century structure. A brick taken from one of the exposed foundations is of 19th-century or later date.
See report (S7) and NHER 68706 for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 11 November 2024.