Listed Building record MDO13523 - Elham House, Farnham

A former museum built in 1880 by General Pitt-Rivers and incorporating an early 19th century farmhouse which had been used as a residential school for Romany Gypsy or Traveller children in circa 1845 by the Reverend John West. After approximately eight years the school, however, failed due to falling pupil numbers and the building became vacant. The former farmhouse is symmetrical, of one and a half storeys, of brick with flint bands and brick dressing, rendered with a tiled roofs. The building has a central terastyle Tuscan porch in stone. The building was built to house finds from General Pitt-Rivers' archaeological excavations on Cranborne Chase, but the collection has been dispersed when the museum closed. This main building was subdivided into three dwellings in the 1980s. The parallel museum extension to the rear was converted into eight dwellings.

MATERIALS: brick with flint bands and brick dressings, rendered to all but the rear elevation, with moulded brick stacks along the ridge and a roof of fish-scale tiles. Regular fenestration with late-20th century timber casements, except for some to the rear which may be late 19th century, and moulded barge boards. PLAN: the building comprises a principal range with a central projecting bay and a porch with cross-wings to either end; the left-hand wing and the porch were added at the end of the 19th century. All are of one and a half storeys. To the rear are the former late-19th century galleries which were originally attached to the house by a connecting range. The latter was demolished in the late 20th century when the former galleries were converted to dwellings. EXTERIOR: symmetrical front elevation with five window range flanked by gabled outer wings which break forwards. The left (north-west) wing has a large three-light mullioned and transomed window beneath a square head. The central range has a projecting central gabled entrance bay with a tripartite Tuscan porch of ashlar and a moulded entablature. The porch is now glazed and has late-20th century double doors to the middle section. To either side of the entrance are a two-light window and a doorway, formerly a window, under a gabled hood. To the upper floor are four casement windows in gablets. The right-hand cross-wing has a matching mullioned and transomed window to the other cross-wing. The south return has projecting entrance porch to the centre with a recessed late-19th century plank door. There is a two-light casement to either side of the entrance and two dormer windows to the roof. The rear (north-east) elevation has walls of exposed banded flint and brick and is of similar style to the front. There is a central projecting bay or wing with a moulded brick stack and two roof lights, which has a single-storey lean-to to either side. The windows are mostly two-light casements with horizontal glazing bars and leaded lights, under segmental brick heads, with gabled dormers and gablets to the upper floor. There is a blocked window to the ground floor and the left-hand lean-to has a late-20th century window and sliding patio doors. To the right, is an entrance with late-20th century door to the south-east side of the north cross-wing and, to the north-west return are a patio door and a casement window to the ground floor, and three regularly-spaced dormer windows above. INTERIOR: this has been sub-divided into three separate dwellings and retains little of historic interest. Both cross-wings have 19th century roof carpentry, without decorative details. The interior of the central section, now known as Elham House, was not inspected. Elm House, as it was previously known, was originally a farmhouse that was probably constructed in the early part of the 19th century. It was converted to a residential school for Romany Gypsy or Traveller children in circa 1845 by the Reverend John West. After approximately eight years the school, however, failed due to falling pupil numbers and the building became vacant. In 1880 Lieutenant-General Augustus Henry Lane Fox (1827-1900), an Army officer and a pioneering collector of ethnographic and antiquarian objects, inherited an extensive estate in Dorset and Wiltshire from his cousin, Horace Pitt, sixth Baron Rivers, as well as the addition of Pitt Rivers to his name. He retired from the army in 1882. That same year he was appointed the first Inspector of Ancient Monuments under the Ancient Monuments Protection Act of 1882. Pitt Rivers also devoted much of the last twenty years of his life to a series of well-recorded, large-scale archaeological excavations; mainly on his estate on Cranborne Chase, but also elsewhere in the country. All his anthropological and archaeological work was aimed at public education and this was mainly realised through the creation of two museums in the 1880s: the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford and the Farnham Museum at the vacant Elm House on his estate in Dorset. Pitt Rivers has been described as the first person to 'establish an archaeological-cum-ethnographical museum, a museum planned to illustrate the worldwide development of human culture and to do so specifically for educational purposes'. He is also seen by many as one of the central figures in the development of archaeology. Elm House was initially large enough for his needs but Pitt Rivers soon extended the building with a further cross-wing on the west side and added purpose-built galleries to the rear. He was also responsible for adding the Tuscan porch to the principal elevation. Although it was a museum for many years, the building continued to be known locally as 'The Gypsy School'. Farnham Museum closed in 1966 and a substantial part of the archaeological collection was re-located to the Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum. In the 1980s the building was sub-divided into three dwellings and the stone bell-cote to the central bay was removed. The galleries to the rear were also converted to residential use. To the front (south-west) of the building is a pair of banded ashlar gate piers with ball finials which carry the inscriptions 'APR' for Augustus Pitt Rivers, and the date '1894'. They are listed at Grade II. As set out in The Principles of Selection for Listing Buildings (March, 2010), buildings dating from before 1840 and surviving in close to their original condition are usually good candidates for listing; after 1840, because of the greatly increased number of buildings erected and the much larger numbers that have survived, progressively greater selection is necessary. Further guidance on the selection of dwellings for designation is laid out in the English Heritage Selection Guide for Suburban and Country Houses (Domestic Buildings 3) (2011), which states that as large numbers of such buildings survive they will need to be assessed against the normal selection criteria: age and rarity, intactness, quality of design, materials and craftsmanship. Well-documented historic associations of national importance may increase the case for listing but normally a building should be of some architectural merit in itself or it should be in a form that directly illustrates and confirms its historical associations. The special architectural and historic interest of the former Elm House, now known as Bushmead, Elham House and Jay Cottage, was recognised by the building’s inclusion on the statutory List at Grade II in 1973. The current list description, which was amended in 1984, was based upon an external inspection and features described include the original fabric of all elevations, tiled roof, ridge stacks, window openings and Tuscan porch. It would appear that the house was first listed on the basis of the exterior architecture and its former use as Pitt Rivers' museum. Since it was listed, the building has undergone alterations, mostly during its sub-division into three dwellings. This has resulted in the addition of roof dormers to the cross-wing; replacement windows, for the most part within the extant openings; the addition of patio doors and several entrance doors; and the glazing-in of the porch. However, the changes that have occurred to the building since it was listed have not substantially altered its external appearance or historic character. Furthermore its former function as a school in the mid-19th century is evinced by the right-hand cross-wing, presumably the former schoolroom, with its separate entrance and large mullioned and transomed window. Although the left-hand wing is a late-19th century addition, from the front it matches the earlier cross-wing, balancing the overall composition. Although Pevsner described the building in 1972 as being ‘of no interest’, Pitt Rivers considered that it fulfilled his requirements for an educational museum since ‘Architectural features, handsome halls and corridors are impediments; at any rate they are points of secondary importance’. Despite Pitt Rivers’ rather negative comments, the building does have architectural interest, particularly the principal elevation which is a symmetrical Tudor Gothic composition with prominent ridge stacks, steep gables, and regularly-spaced windows. It is acknowledged that internal modifications during the 1980s sub-division, albeit undertaken with Listed Building Consent, have substantially altered the interior of the building in terms of both layout and circulation and also in the survival of historic fixtures and fittings. Although the 19th century roof carpentry remains in the two cross-wings, there is little within the building which reflects its former functions, either its use as a school and later as a museum. The interior is, therefore, considered to be unremarkable and is not of special interest. It must be stated though that these alterations have not degraded the overall character of the building, and the special interest of the exterior is sufficiently strong to override the changes that the interior has undergone. The former museum galleries to the rear of the building which were once attached to the house by a connecting range (demolished in the 20th century) have been significantly modernised and are not considered to be of special interest. It is, however, the historic interest of the building which contributes most to its special interest. Bushmead, Elham House and Jay Cottage (formerly Elm House) is of strong historic interest for the building's close association with the pioneer archaeologist and anthropologist General Pitt Rivers, a figure of national, and arguably international, importance. There is a substantial and significant archive from the Pitt Rivers collection that has been transcribed as part of a research project funded by The Leverhulme Trust entitled: ‘Rethinking Pitt Rivers’ which, together with the Pitt Rivers Museum (Grade I) of 1885-6, an annexe of the University Museum, Oxford, and the Farnham Museum document an important aspect in the development of public education and archaeological thinking in the second half of the C19. Pitt Rivers established the museum at the former Elm House in Farnham after 1880 to house a collection of his archaeological finds and ethnographic material, as well as agricultural and industrial objects and other objects relating to rural life. Of particular significance to Pitt Rivers was the role his museum displays and collections could play in public education. In 1891 he described Farnham thus ‘...I have formed another museum, which, although it is a provincial one, is in some respects better than the first [at Oxford] because such series as it contains are more fully represented’. Indeed following a visit in 1891 the museum was described in the journal of the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society as ‘probably unique of its kind in England’. As an early exponent of the role of archaeology in public education and for introducing the typological and chronological display of artefacts which was considered innovative in the late 19th century, Pitt Rivers’ work and collections are significant. Although no longer a museum, Elm House in Farnham is an important part of Pitt Rivers’ legacy and as such has clear historic interest for its association with him and the work he carried out there. The earlier use of the building as a residential or boarding school for Romany Gypsy or Traveller children in the mid-19th century provides additional historic interest. It was established in circa 1845, well before the introduction of school boards and substantial state funding following the 1870 Education Act; and it was not until the Children’s Act of 1908 that education was made compulsory for travelling Gypsy children, although for only half the year. The school at the former Elm House is, therefore, not only an early example but was unusually established for a specific community. In addition there are documentary references to the school, not least a plan of 1847, and the 1851 Census which names the eleven pupils attending the school at that time. As stated previously its use as a school is also reflected in the external form of the building, particularly the entrance porch and large mullioned and transomed window to the right-hand cross-wing, and historical photographs show that there was a bell-cote on the roof. To summarise, despite its sub-division into three dwellings, the building formerly known as Elm House, and now Bushmead, Elham House and Jay Cottage, continues to be of sufficient special interest to merit retention on the statutory List. For the reasons described above, its interest is concentrated on the exterior of the building and on its historic interest as a former school and more significantly, its close association with Pitt Rivers. The interior is not of interest. The list description, however, should be amended to more fully describe the building and its special interest. After examining all the records and other relevant information and having carefully considered the architectural and historic interest of this case, the building known as Bushmead, Elham House and Jay Cottage has sufficient special interest to merit retention on the list. <1-3> Listed. For the designation record of this site please see The National Heritage List for England. <4-5> The farmhouse building was assessed for de-listing in 2012 and found to have sufficient special interest to merit retention on the list.

Record last edited

Feb 20 2023 4:44PM