Summary
A late-C18 house, altered and extended in the mid-C19.
Reasons for Designation
The Cedars, a late-C18 house, altered and extended in the mid-C19, is Listed for the following principal reasons:
Architectural interest:
* as a high-status C18 house with important phases of renovation and extension in the mid- and late-C19;
* for the good survival of its internal features of interest, including its historic plan form, stair hall, and fireplaces.
Historic interest:
* for its association with Captain Withers and his record of naval service in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.
Group value:
* for its historic group value and physical attachment to the near contemporary building at 1 New Road.
History
The settlement of (North) Walsham was owned by the Abbey of St Benet at Holme by the early C11 and was recorded in the Domesday survey (1086). The town had an established market by 1275, helped by the local wool trade, especially following the arrival of Flemish weavers in the C14. Lightweight ‘Walsham’ cloth reflects the town’s significant position in the wool and weaving industry. The large size of the medieval parish church of St Nicholas expresses some of the prosperity derived from the trade.
Much of the town’s medieval fabric was destroyed by fire in the summer of 1600, including 118 houses, 70 shops and warehouses, and even more barns, stables, malthouses and outhouses. The town changed in the reconstruction, with new building styles and materials used, but the layout of the marketplace and the narrow width of plots remained. Despite the declining wool trade, the town remained a significant market centre as an agricultural trading point and, from the early C19, a place of manufacturing. The North Walsham and Dilham Canal was opened in 1826, and by the end of the C19, the town had two railway stations.
The Cedars stands in a prominent position near to the Market Place at the centre of North Walsham. It is likely to have been constructed in the 1790s as a family home. It appears to be shown on the 1797 Faden map of Norfolk (surveyed 1790-1794) and is clearly indicated on the enclosure map of 1814. Historically it related to The Oaks and to Beech Grove, other large family homes built close by (both demolished in the C20).
In June 1824 the building was advertised as ‘fit for the residence of a genteel family: comprising 3 sitting-rooms, kitchen, out-offices, and 5 sleeping-rooms, stable and chaise-house, and a walled-in garden, well planted with choice fruit trees, situate within a minute’s walk of the Market-place, and in excellent condition, now in the occupation of Captain Withers’ (Norwich Mercury). Withers was a captain in the Royal Navy and an associate of Lord Nelson, serving in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.
At some point between 1814 and 1842 a small block was added at the south-west corner of the house, probably as part of the service rooms of the Cedars.
By 1842 The Cedars was the home and workplace of William Shipley, a veterinary surgeon.
The building underwent a major phase of alteration and extension in the Victorian period. The formerly single-pile Georgian house was extended to the rear, creating the corridor and strong room. In the 1870s it first adopted the name ‘Cedars’. It is likely that the two-storey eastern extension was added at around the same time.
The Cedars remained in residential use until the late 1940s when it became the offices of North Walsham Urban District Council. It was listed at Grade II in 1972.
The Council vacated The Cedars in 2016 and the building declined in condition. 2023 saw the completion of a major period of repair and refurbishment as part of the High Street Heritage Action Zone led by North Norfolk District Council and supported by Historic England and the New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership.
Details
A late-C18 house, altered and extended in the mid-C19.
MATERIALS: the building is constructed of brick and the roofs are covered in slate.
PLAN: the C19 plan form survives well, with high-status rooms accessed via an entrance hall and stair hall, and historic service spaces separated at the western end of the house.
EXTERIOR
The house is two-storeys high with lined render, and slate roofs.
The principal elevation faces south onto New Road and is set back from the street. At the centre of the elevation are three symmetrical bays with an entrance and flush sash windows with single glazing bars. There is a stone doorcase with pilasters and a segmental pediment, within which are panelled rebates and a six-panelled door.
To the right-hand side is a tall brick extension which projects towards the road; its street-facing gable has a canted bay window at the first floor, built of stone and supported on columns with foliate capitals. The left-hand side of the house terminates in a hipped roof; its windows (two sashes at the ground floor and one mullion-and-transom at the first floor) are irregularly spaced. The building is set back from the street, except for a single-storey projection on the far left-hand side. This small extension adjoins the neighbouring property and has a six-over-six sash on the south side and a doorway on the east.
The east elevation is two storeys high and built of yellow brick laid in Flemish bond. It has two large windows at the ground floor and two further windows at the first floor (sashes with concealed boxes and single glazing bars) beneath gauged brick arches. An egg and dart cornice supports projecting eaves.
The north elevation is rendered. It projects and recedes where the building was extended and altered over the course of the C19. It includes two hipped roofs covered in unglazed pantiles. There are sash windows at differing levels and the pattress plates of tie bars.
The west end of the building is the only section that still displays its Georgian red brickwork, laid in Flemish bond with a dentil cornice. At ground floor level on the north-west corner is a former entrance that has been blocked.
INTERIOR
The building’s historic interior features have a good degree of survival. The plan form is clearly legible so that the historic service spaces can be distinguished from the high-status areas, and the late-C19 extension at the east end can be read in the fabric through the changing levels of the first floor.
One of the key spaces is the entrance hall and stair hall. At the ground floor, these areas are paved with mid-C19 tiles. The staircase winds around an open well-lit by an arched window. It has a mahogany handrail, stick balusters, and a monkey-tail newel. The corners of the handrail have been interrupted by mid-C20 raised, square newel posts.
Fire surrounds survive well throughout the house, with a small number retaining their historic cast iron grates. Those in the east extension are made of marble. The former kitchen has a particularly wide (blocked) fireplace. The kitchen itself is accessed through a doorway with a worn pamment floor and contains a chamfered beam with run-out stops.
Joinery details such as skirtings and architraves survive well, as well as panelled shutters in the east extension.
Some cornices have been replaced or concealed behind later ceiling alterations. Also concealed at first-floor level are some areas of reed and plaster wall surfaces (the front room, adjoining the east extension).
There is a barrel vaulted cellar, built of brick.
