Summary
House, formerly a farmhouse, built in the early-C17, refronted in the 1750s, converted to a headteacher's house in around 1945 and a sixth-form centre in 1974, both for Hamond's Grammar School, and then a private dwelling in 1982.
Reasons for Designation
Oakleigh House, built in the late C16 or early C17 and remodelled in the 1750s, is listed at Grade II* for the following principal reasons:
Architectural interest:
* for its distinctive and well-crafted Queen Anne façade which forms a strong composition on a prominent site overlooking the Market Place;
* it retains a rich repository of historic fabric relating both to its C16 origins and its mid-C18 remodelling;
* as a building in the local vernacular tradition which was remodelled in the 1750s to reflect the architectural tastes of the C18 as Swaffham became a fashionable local centre.
Historic interest:
* its mid-C18 remodelling illustrates the development of a prestigious house in order to meet changing architectural fashion and the social status of its owners.
History
Swaffham’s significance in the medieval period stemmed from its position on the crossroads of the main routes from London, Norwich and King’s Lynn. The first written record of a market in the town, which was established on a triangular-shaped area formed by the convergence of the aforementioned roads, was in 1215 when King John issued a royal writ to the Sherriff of Norfolk to abolish it should it ‘damage the market in Dunham’. It was never abolished and expanded rapidly. The Market Place was probably open to the church on its east side, but later-C17 development closed this off, while the development of The Shambles in the middle of the late C18/early-C19, further reduced the size of the open space. From the mid-C18, for a period of just over a hundred years, Swaffham became one of the most populous parishes in Norfolk and one of the most fashionable centres in the county, attracting many leading West Norfolk Families. A racecourse had been established by 1628, the Assembly Rooms were constructed in 1776-8, subsequently extended and modernised in 1817, and George Walpole, the Third Earl of Orford (1730-91), founded a coursing club in 1786. During this period of prosperity much rebuilding took place around the Market Place and the overall character of the town is primarily of mid-late Georgian in date, although there is evidence for C16-C17 work behind many façades. Further rebuilding also took place after ‘The Great Fire of Swaffham’, which probably started in the vicinity of the Blue Boar Inn (now the White Hart) on the afternoon of 14 November 1775, when it was set ablaze by a spark from a nearby blacksmith’s workshop. Fire soon engulfed the densely packed houses and workshops behind the inn and along London Road, with 22 buildings being completely destroyed and a further two badly damaged. The town continued to expand in the C19 when its population increased from 2,200 in 1800 to 3,350 in 1845. It also became an important local administrative centre during this period and acquired several notable buildings, including a National School (1838), Shire Hall (1839) and Corn Hall (1858).
Oakleigh House was built as a farmhouse in the late-C16 or early-C17 on the site of a dwelling occupied by John Chapman, ‘The Pedlar of Swaffham’, who is reputed to have found buried treasure following a prophetic dream. A carved oak door-head inscribed with the date 1658 and the initials JC (John Chapman) and EC (Eric Chapman) suggest that the rebuilding was undertaken by one of John Chapman’s direct descendants. In the 1750s, during a period when much rebuilding was undertaken in Swaffham, particularly around the Market Place, Oakleigh House was remodelled with a Queen Anne-style façade. Little is subsequently known about the building until 1901 when the farm, which then comprised 215 acres of land, was leased to Walter Smith, a farmer and butcher living at Crown Cottage, Pickenham Road, Swaffham. Mr Smith acquired it outright in 1921 and following his death in 1933, the house was sold, although his wife, Eleanor, and maid, Ada, continued to live there until it was requisitioned by the War Office in 1939 for use as an Officer’s Mess. After the War it was purchased by the neighbouring Hamond’s Grammar School and used as a headteacher's house until 1975 when it became the school's sixth-form centre. In 1982, after standing empty for two years, it was sold at auction and restored as a private dwelling.
The house sits strategically within the Market Place, with other notable hiistoric buildings in close proximity, the collective architectural quality of which reflects the wealth and prestige associated with Swaffham during the time of its remodelling in the mid-C18.
Details
House, formerly a farmhouse, built in the early-C17, re-fronted in the 1750s, converted to a headteacher's house in around 1945 and a sixth-form centre in 1974, both for Hamond's Grammar School, and then a private dwelling in 1982.
MATERIALS: its façade is of red-brick with yellow-brick dressings while the other elevations are of coursed flint with brick dressings. The roof is of black-glazed pantiles and the stacks are of brick.
PLAN: of a single-pile plan, aligned north-west to south-east, with two rear cross wings of which the space between was infilled in the C20.
EXTERIOR: the symmetrical principal façade to Market Place is of two storeys with a dormer attic in seven bays. Of a Queen Anne style, the centre three bays project forward and are defined by rusticated quoins, as are the ends of the elevation. At the centre is an eight-panelled door of which the lower two panels are flush and the remainder raised and fielded; the panelled reveals following an identical pattern. It is set within a lugged and moulded doorcase with a triple keystone, framed by a Gibbs surround with a Doric metope frieze and a triangular pediment with modillions. The rest of the elevation contains mid-C18 six-over-six unhorned sashes throughout, all with painted flat-arched heads with triple keystones. The exception is the central first-floor window which is segmental-headed within a Gibbs surround. Above is a modillioned eaves cornice and a central triangular pediment with a Diocletian window within a Gibbs surround. The gabled roof has two triangular-pedimented dormers with two-over-two unhorned sashes.
The returns are of coursed flint with the left-hand return having brick surrounds to three infilled windows of early-C17 date.
At the rear there are two early-C17 cross wings, the space between infilled in the C20, along with two banks of early-C17 wall-stacks that terminate in triple octagonal flues.
INTERIOR: the entrance hall has a lugged and pedimented fireplace surround, probably a late-C20 replica of an C18 example, a modillion cornice and four lugged doorcases with six-panelled doors. The northern reception room also has a modillion cornice along with a C20 lugged fireplace beneath a C18 lugged overmantel with corner paterae. The southern reception room has a dentil cornice. In the southern crosswing, the dining room has a wooden fireplace surround, probably C18, while the adjoining kitchen has an exposed stop-chamfered ceiling beam and joists along with deep splayed window openings. In the northern crosswing there is an early-C17 closed-well staircase with splat balusters and a moulded handrail. Its square-section lower newel posts are carved with low-relief arabesque strapwork and have tall carved baluster finials with open neck pieces. The remainder of the newel posts are of plain square section with baluster finials. A secondary, close-string staircase in the southern crosswing is of mid-C18 date and has turned balusters, column newels and a moulded handrail. The roofs have principal rafters with two tiers of butt purlins.
