Ivy House, Present Day
Ivy House is a typical flint block built village property.
After 10 years of renovation my the current owners Ivy House is again a typical late medieval long house, with many original features preserved. The house has grown somewhat, now being over 3000 sq ft, with 16 rooms on 4 levels, the most recent being a sunroom taking in the village views don't the valley.
the current project is the garden, which the owners hope to have complete in time for the 2014 open gardens!
The house was examined by the Yorkshire Vernacular Building group in 2006 whilst the latest round of renervations were going on and they came to a number of interesting conclusions:
1. The main part of the house was built around 1640 as a 2-up, 1 down cottage with a low, possibly straw, roof and very small windows.
2. The roof was removed and raised around 1710
3. The front wall was removed and rebuilt with bigger windows around 1790
4. Various building works were carried out between 1800 and 1900 to leave the house in its current format.
The current door frames and some beams are from a much higher status property, as evidenced by carving which would not be seen on a crude property of this type, and fixing points on various beams and frames which do not correspond to the current location of the frames. Since some doors in the house are dated to the original house, and were patently made for the space they currently occupy, this led the investigative team to conclude that the original house incorporated high quality wood "recovered" from an older, high status, building. Since some of this wood shows evidence of burning and charring, it is possible to conclude further rthat the donor building burnt down sometime in the early to middle 17th century.
In support of the above it is clear that one of the extentions (the current kitchen) which appears to date from the late 18th century exhibits much cruder quality of wood preparation to the earlier, smaller house.
Ivy House C.1905 From The Front
Ivy House C.1905 From The Side
Ivy House Painting Date Unknown
Ivy House C.1945? (Note No Telegraph Poles)
Ivy House C.1950
