Details
LEATHERHEAD GRAVEL HILL
TQ 1656 NE (east side)
10/135
7.9.51 Nos. 2, 4, and 6
(Sweech House)
GV II
Farmhouse, now offices. Probably late C15, enlarged in C16, altered in C17,
subdivided into 3 cottages in earlier C19; restored 1950. Timber frame with brick
nogging and cladding, some flint and some tile-hanging; red tile roof. Two-bay
hall range on north-south axis, with a 2½-bay wing at the south end and a 2-bay
wing at the north end (probably added at different dates: see History below).
One-and-a-half and 2 storeys. The 1½-storey hall now has a doorway to the 2nd
bay, a modern crosswindow to the right and modern 6-fight transomed window to
the left, and a hipped dormer in each bay; visible timber framing consisting of a
wallpost to the left of the door, mid-rail to the right of this, and wallplate over
both bays; and to the left of the wallpost a patch of flint masonry which is the
side of an inserted inglenook, from which a chimney rises through the slope of
the roof. The gable of the left wing, which is flush, has corner posts, a straight
tie-beam, and a king-post roof truss with 3 queen struts; two 2-fight casements
at ground floor and a 5-fight casement above; and a side-wall chimney. The
right-hand wing projects, has a modern bow window at ground floor, a 2-fight
casement at 1st floor, a tile-hung gable, and a ridge chimney between the 1st
and 2nd bays; the 2½-bay return wall has a plinth and exposed timber framing
including sill, 2 wallposts with down-braces to a mid-rail, studs and intermediate
rails, and the wallplate; a patch of flint masonry in the 1st bay (the side of
another inglenook) and a casement above; coupled cross-windows in the centre
bay and another above, and an inserted doorway in the rear bay. At the rear all
parts have exposed full timber framing (except the 2nd bay of the hall, which is
covered by an added outshut, and the gable of the south wing which is tile-
hung), but the framing of the wings differs: that in the south wing is of heavier
scantling and includes 2 large down-braces (and the peg-holes of another in the
re-entrant side) and a small square stairwindow framed into the angle of the rail
and the right-hand post; in addition, the 1st bay of the hall has a doorway and a
2-light casement, the wings have some similar casements on both floors, and the
hall has 2 dormers like those at the front. Interior: the south end wall of the
hall-range has a massive concave up-brace from the rear post, the north end
wall has evidence of similar bracing (2 vacant mortices in the soffit of the tie-
beam and a blocked mortice in the rear post), and this tie-beam carries 2 large
raked struts; the lateral beam between the bays has floor-joists of the south bay
tenoned into it but those of the north bay laid on top of it (suggesting that this
bay was formerly open), and the soffit is grooved for a former plank partition,
with a slot at the rear end for a former door lintel; a chimney stack inserted at
the junction of the bays, the inglenook opening to the north bay (with a
chamfered bressummer and unusual painted overmantel) and the rear backing into
the south bay (and painted in imitation of brick); the south wing has a similar
inserted chimney stack obtruding into the 1st bay, with inglenook towards the
2nd bay. History: an alternative interpretation of the development of this
building suggests that the south wing was the first phase and the hall the last;
see LDLHS History (1988) p.301, and J.H.Harvey "Sweech House" Proc.LDLHS 3,
(1971).
Listing NGR: TQ1652356519
