Nineteenth century bread oven at Kentishes Farmhouse, Kentish Farm (EHER 80495)

The remains of a brick-built bread oven, situated to the West of the farmhouse at its rear, and incorporated into the surroundings of a late 20th century swimming pool. Originally built in the 1840s to serve the local community, it has been much altered in the modern period and converted into a barbecue. To the immediate North, South and West are remnants of the original walls that formed the building that would have housed the oven, though very little original fabric remains in the oven itself.

November 2011. Heritage assessment. The remains of a brick-built bread oven, situated to the West of the farmhouse at its rear, and incorporated into the surroundings of a late 20th century swimming pool. There is little left of the original building and the current walls are mostly late 20th century. It has been much altered in the modern period and has been converted into a barbecue with a flat roof topped with sandstone flags. To the immediate North, South and West are remnants of the original walls that formed the building that would have housed the oven. There is also a modern low level oven which is now a flowerbed, again bonded with grey cement. This incorporates an old No6 fire door from a 19th or 20th century oven. The bread oven door itself has an original wrought iron frame but a late 20th century segmental lintel. The oven retains its wrought iron frame with pintle hinges and latch but there is no sign of the original door which would have been 18in wide. Inside the bread oven, the dome is in danger of collapse. The historic maps indicate quite clearly that the oven was not built before 1840. This is the era of the advent of High Farming and it was probably built within a very few years of the Tithe Award map of 1838. At this time, there was growing need for the farm to produce bread on a more industrial scale. The oven is medium sized, not designed to form the basis of a widespread commercial venture but to serve the needs of the local community. The map evidence shows that the range of buildings incorporating the oven was still in place in 1955, though it is unlikely that the oven would have still been in use. The buildings were probably dismantled in the 1970s or 1980s in order that the swimming pool could be built. The oven compares directly with that at the Cressing Temple farmhouse which is a good example as it is complete, functioning and accessible to the public. That oven has been dated to c.1800-42 but is of the same design. <1>