Church Lane Theydon Theydon Or Church Lane

Details

BROADHEMBURY BROADHEMBURY SY 10 SW

5/55 Theydon or Church Lane

GV II*

Estate house. Late medieval origins, remodelled in the circa early C17 and extended later, possibly in the C18 or early C19, perhaps during the period when the house was divided into 2 cottages. Creamwashed rendered cob and stone rubble; thatched roof with a plain ridge, hipped at left end of the main block, gabled at the right end; right end stack with a stone rubble shaft, stack at junction of the main block and the south-west wing, stack to C18 or C19 addition. Plan: Complex and extremely interesting historic plan form, approximately Z plan overall: the main block facing north-east, a south-west wing at right angles and a probably C18 or C19 addition adjoining the wing on the same axis as the main block. The main block, 2 rooms wide, is the higher end of a late medieval open hall house with unusually primitive carpentry to the roof construction. The lower end and passage (formerly adjoining at the north-west) are missing but the medieval doorframe from the passage into the higher end survives in situ as an external doorframe. The hall was probably floored in the C17 with a stack added backing on to the passage (now the end stack) and a winder stair added in the inner room. The south-west wing may also be medieval in origin, it may have been unheated originally but some odd features associated with the present stack, but apparently pre-dating it, suggest that it may have had a smoke hood or a timber frame stack before the insertion of the existing stack which has an C18 chimney-piece. A small 1-room plan extension leads off the wing at right angles to it. The main block has a tiled outshut along the front (north-east) wall and there is a thatched outshut along the south east side of the wing, providing access between the wing and the main block. The principal entrance is into the south-west end of the wing from the lane to the church. The house was divided into 2 cottages at one time. Exterior: Irregular and extremely picturesque, sited adjacent to the churchyard. 2 storeys. Asymmetrical 2 window entrance front, fronting the lane to the church and made up of the end of the south-west wing and the side of the C18 or C19 addition. C19 or C20 plank front door to the left with a thatched porch with timber lattice sides. First floor window left is a probably C18 3-light casement retaining some square leaded panes and old glass. Eaves thatch eyebrowed over first floor window right which is a C20 casements with glazing bars. The left return has one 1-light window and a 3-light C18 ground floor casement with some square leaded panes, old glass and stanchions. To the left and set back, the rear elevation of the main block has an early C19 gabled dormer with pierced curly bargeboards and a timber casement with glazing bars, one similar ground floor casement. The left return of the main block has a thatched porch to the former higher end entrance from the missing passage: this retains its original medieval chamfered oak doorframe with a cranked lintel pegged into the jambs. Deep eaves to the gable end with early C19 pierced curly bargeboards. A single-storey outshut with a red pantile roof extends along the north-east elevation (the front of the main block). The thatch on the south-east side of the wing is swept down, almost to ground level, as a catslide over the outshut. Interior: Very unspoiled and rich in carpentry and other features of interest. The main block has chamfered step-stopped crossbeams and exposed joists, the heated room with an open fireplace with a chamfered lintel and a bread oven. There may originally have been a stair in the north-west corner of the room where there is a large cupboard with an early C18 door with one large welded panel. The unheated room has a timber winder stair: the division between the 2 rooms rises as a closed partition on the first floor, made up of slender poles with plaster between. In the wing various timbers adjacent to the stack appear to be truncated by the chimney- breast and, on the first floor, a sooted void next to the stack may be the remains of a framed smoke hood. The ground floor room has a chamfered stopped crossbeam, a substantial axial beam across half the room and some exposed joists. A C20 oak stair rises in the corner, replacing a C19 stair. The C18 chimney-piece is unexpectedly high quality Adam style. Roof:. The main north-east facing block has a late medieval jointed cruck roof construction, the right hand (north) cruck embedded in the end wall. The trusses are of a very rustic character, the principal rafters slender and wainey with most of the curve in the principals rather than the cruck feet, which appear to be halved on to the rafters. The collars, also slender, appear to have halved rather that mortised joints. The hip at the left end is partly renewed but the rafters are simply fixed on to timber pads in the end wall. The roof has been altered to the rear of the ridge and some of the purlins (formerly trenched) have been removed. No access to the apex of the roof but fragments of sooted thatch are visible behind the lath and plaster. The roof over the wing has been raised slightly, the timbers are probably C18 or early C19, the ridge resting on a massive sooted timber block on the gable. Substantial sooted timbers are visible in a void adjacent to the stack of the wing. An exceptionally interesting evolved house on a small scale, in a crucial position in the centre of an outstanding estate village and one of 8 closely-spaced medieval houses in the village.

Listing NGR: ST1014304762

Legacy

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Legacy System number:

87057

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LBS

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