Sheepcote Farmhouse (EHER 28881)

Late 16th to early 17th century timber-framed house with 18th century front and 16th century timber-framed barn. Documents date farmhouse back to the 12th century.

Original HER entry merged with NRHE data import: Sheepcotes Farm (NAT). <1> Sheepcote Farmhouse (formerly listed under Rivenhall). A late 16th or early 17th century timber-framed and plastered house built on an L-shaped plan with wings to the north-east and south-east. RCHM 10. Grade II. <2> Sheepcote Farm, house and barn, nearly 2 miles NNW of the church. The house was built late in the 16th or early in the 17th century, on an L-shaped plan with the wings extending towards the south and east. <3> 1993. Historical investigation. Pat Ryan has found that the farm can be traced back continuously in documents to the 12th century. <4> An entry into the manorial court roll for 1428 records that Sheepcotes was leased to Gilbert atte Wood for a term of nine years. The farm was reduced in size in 1450. By the beginning of the 16th century it was described in the manorial records as 'a tenement and 80 acres of land in Cressing and Rivenhall called Cressing Shepecote'. A further 3 fields containing 60 acres were added to the farm by 1655. By this date Sheepcotes appears to have been regarded as a customary or copyhold property. There was little alteration up until the 19th century. <5>