Listed Building record MDR13050 - Povey farmhouse, Hazlehurst Lane, Eckington

Povey was the property of Beauchief Abbey from at least the 12th century. In 1404 there is a reference to a 'William Pouey of Hasalhurste' while later references suggest a division of the settlement into two or three farms. Povey Farm was purchased by Thomas Kent, yeoman, in 1570. Following his death in 1582, an inventory lists his property room by room. Those which are mentioned (not necessarily all that existed) are the hall (with fireplace), the 'over' chamber, the 'kytchen' chamber, the 'over' parlour, the 'mylke' house, the 'newe' parlour, the 'kytchen', the 'kylne' house, the nether chamber, the 'bultinge' or bolting house, where flour would have been sifted to remove chaff and debris, and the 'buttrye'. The contents of the kitchen and buttery consisted only of containers for brewing and storage. At this date, the hall fire would still have been used for cooking, even in a fairly prosperous household, and there would almost certainly have been a large oven, possibly external, for baking bread. The architectural evidence suggests that these rooms belonged to an earlier house than most of the surviving stone structure. It is likely that much of the present plan of the house developed during the second half of the 17th century, before it became a tenanted farm on the Sitwell estate in 1696. The importance of Povey is reflected in the scale of its farm buildings and the size of the farmhouse itself. In their constructional features, both indicate a period of prosperity in the 17th century. The plan of Povey farmhouse is an attenuated 'T', aligned approximately east-west, with a cross-wing at the western end and a longer range of four bays to the east, with two appendages, a porch tower and a stair tower. From the mid to late 17th century the house may have had a number of access points, including opposed entrances in the long range, a central doorway and passage in the cross wing, and access via the porch tower. The building is complex and sometimes hard to interpret. There is some evidence that at an early stage one of the bays was timber-framed with a roof aligned north-south, at right angles to the present alignment. The easternmost bay and the two towers may have been added to this, either as a new extension or as the replacement of an earlier structure. The entire hall range was raised and re-roofed in the 19th century. At the western end of the building is the cross-wing of two storeys and attics, probably dating to the later 17th century. The fall of ground permitted a single large cellar under the south room of the wing. The cross-wing is subdividied by a central cross-passage; it is unclear whether this is an original feature. Comparison of the present cross-wing with a plan of 1776 suggests there have been alterations to the cross-wing since that date and there is evidence externally that the roof-line of this wing has been lowered. (1) See SMR 4984 for the farm buildings.