Summary
Former double ended hall house, now house (number 59) and shop (number 59A). It was probably built in the late C15 or early C16, with the north cross wing extended to the rear in the late C16 or early C17, while the hall was remodelled, including the insertion of a first floor, and a carriageway driven through the south cross wing in the C18. In the C19 the hall and north cross wing were encased in brick. A shop front was installed to the south cross wing in the late C20.
Reasons for Designation
59 (Salisbury House) and 59A High Street, Buntingford, a former double ended hall house built in the late C15 or early C16, with later alterations and additions, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
Architectural interest
* as an important and legible example of a late medieval double-ended hall house that survives well partly behind a later brick front;
* the original plan form is still readable;
* it retains a significant proportion of its original timber frame, including close studded walls, jowled posts, braces, chamfered ceiling beams, and collar and tie beam roof trusses with clasped purlins, all of which contributes to our understanding of Hertfordshire building traditions and carpentry techniques in the late medieval period;
* alterations undertaken in the late C16/early C17, C18 and C19 are an important part of the building’s history, being prestigious modifications that reflect altered concepts of privacy and hygiene, as well as the impact of other social and economic changes, particularly the owner’s wealth and status.
Historic interest:
* as one of a series of high-status dwellings erected in Buntingford during the late medieval period.
History
The precise origins of 59 (Salisbury House) and 59A High Street, Buntingford, are unknown. However, the historical development of the town, which was established at the point where Ermine Street, the main Roman road from London to York, crossed Hare Street and forded the River Rib, and in which its earliest buildings are a series of high-status dwellings and coaching inns dating from the C15, along with its plan-form as a double ended hall house, suggests that it was possibly built in the late C15 or early C16. Its subsequent historical development, although difficult to date accurately, includes a rear extension to the north cross wing, probably in the late C16 or early C17, and the remodelling of the hall range, including the addition of a first floor, along with the insertion of a carriageway through the south cross wing, all possibly undertaken in the C18.
The earliest known documentary evidence relating to the building is from 1838 when it was recorded in the Tithe Apportionment for Layston with Buntingford. At this time its owner was Charles Heaton Ellis (1789-1865) of Wyddial Hall, a lawyer, judge and barrister, although it was occupied by a tenant, Thomas Seabrook. The Tithe map shows that it occupied a long, narrow burgage plot extending westwards from High Street to a small track at the rear known as Back Lane. Along with a house, a long, narrow malthouse is shown standing to the rear, with a smaller rectangular building, possibly a stable. By the following year the house was owned by Mary Newbould who probably inherited it from her father, William Williamson. Although locally born, with her marriage to Henry Newbould having taken place at nearby Wyddial, Mary and her husband resided at Ecclesall Bierlow, South Yorkshire, and the house was subsequently occupied by a tenant. The 1843 Tithe Apportionment records the occupants as George Gaffney (a surgeon) and Richard Wren (a maltster and coal merchant), with Henry Newbould as the owner.
Following the death of Henry Newbould in 1871, who was preceded in death by his wife in 1860, the property was inherited by their son, Rev William Williamson Newbould (1819-1886). Although he was ordained a priest in 1845, Rev Newbould resigned his curacy in 1860 and devoted the rest of his life to botanical pursuits, ultimately to be considered as one of the most significant British botanists of the Victorian era. As Rev Newbould lived in London, undertaking his scholarly quest at the botanical department or reading room of the British Museum, his Buntingford property continued to be occupied by tenants. The 1871 Census records the occupant as Robert Blew, a surveyor for Buntingford Highway District, along with his wife, Harriet, their three children, and two servants. In March 1885, Robert Blew, who by then had moved to Bromley, Kent, was declared bankrupt at Cambridge County Court. The house was subsequently sold at auction the following August, it being purchased by John Postle of Wyddial, a farmer and butcher, for £400. It is likely that the ground floor of the south cross wing became a butcher’s shop shortly afterwards, with a serving hatch being inserted in the carriageway. Although the house was subjected to other alterations during the C19, including the addition of a Cambridge gault brick façade to the former hall range and north cross wing, the latter resulting in the loss of its jettied first floor, the lowering the ground-floor level to create more headroom, the digging of a new cellar under the north cross wing, and the installation of new chimney stacks, it is likely that these works were undertaken prior to it being acquired by Mr Postle, possibly in the 1880s. By 1897, as depicted on the Ordnance Survey 25-inch map, Mr Postle had demolished the malthouse and erected at dairy at the rear of the north cross wing.
John Postle died in 1913, but a dispute over his will resulted in the house being put up for sale six years later. It was subsequently purchased by his son, Harry, for £1700. It was sold again in the early 1930s by Harry’s son, WHJA Postle, to James Kidman, and subsequently became a private residence rather than a farm and butcher’s shop.
During the Second World War the former butcher's shop (number 59A) was rented to Frederick Holmes, a boot mender. After the war it was purchased by Harold Jarvis, a cobbler, who occupied the premises until he retired in 1990.
In 1961, James Kidman sold the house to Colonel Ernest Hudson for £4000, who ran the ‘Tudor Wine Company’ from the premises. It was sold again in 1973 to Francis and Teresa Wurr for £26,950, who undertook a comprehensive refurbishment of the property, including the removal of 1950s fireplaces to reveal inglenooks, the rebuilding of a collapsed C17 fireplace in north cross wing, and the incorporation of the late-C19 dairy into the main body of the house.
The house was acquired by new owners in 2005, who again refurbished the dwelling, which saw the former dairy being rebuilt on a smaller footprint. In 2015 three new dwellings (1-3 Yew Tree Court) were constructed in the rear garden, with access granted to them through the carriageway in the south cross wing.
In 2020, after being uninhabited for 15 years, the house was acquired by new owners, who undertook further refurbishments.
Details
Former double ended hall house, now house (number 59, Salisbury House) and shop (number 59A). It was probably built in the late C15 or early C16, with the north cross wing extended to the rear in the late C16 or early C17, while the hall was remodelled, including the insertion of a first floor, and a carriageway driven through the south cross wing in the C18. In the C19 the hall and north cross wing were encased in brick. A shop front was installed to the south cross wing in the late C20.
MATERIALS: timber-framed with the principal elevation of the former open hall and north cross wing encased in Cambridge gault brick, while the south cross wing has a roughcast rendered first floor and a weatherboarded left-hand return. The rear elevation of the former hall is of red brick while the north cross wing is weatherboarded and the south cross wing roughcast rendered. The steeply pitched roofs are of red tile and the stacks are of brick.
PLAN: a former H-plan house that originally comprised a central open hall (now floored), the low eaves at the rear suggesting that it was single storeyed, flanked by a two-and-a-half storey gabled cross wing to the north (formerly jettied and probably of two storeys) and a two-storey gabled and jettied cross wing to south, the latter with a shop and carriageway to its ground floor.
EXTERIOR: the building’s principal elevation faces east directly onto High Street. Its central range (former open hall) and north cross wing were both encased in Flemish bond Cambridge gault brick in the C19 and now read as a single composition unified by a chamfered plinth, first-floor string course and regular fenestration pattern. The right-hand side of the central section has a wooden doorcase with fluted pilasters and lintel along with a flat hood on shaped and pierced brackets. It contains a timber door with pyramidal-shaped vertical panels above which is a plain-glazed rectangular fanlight. A tripartite horned sash sits to its left-hand side, and on the first floor there are two six-over-six unhorned sashes, all with gauged brick heads.
The north cross wing has two six-over-six sashes to each main floor and a pointed casement window with square lights to the attic, all with gauged brick heads. The gable has pierced and wavy-edged bargeboards and to the roof there is a square stack.
The ground floor of the south cross wing has a narrow C20 shop front to its left-hand side, with a plate-glass display window and a two-thirds glazed door recessed to its right-hand side, all beneath a shallow fascia. To its right-hand side is a carriageway (addressed as Yew Tree Court) with a heavy arched-braced head supported on original storey posts. The jetty plate is exposed above the carriage arch but concealed behind render where it spans the shop. Inside the carriageway, the left-hand wall has a weatherboarded ground floor with a boarded serving hatch and a six-panelled door, both inserted in the late C19/early C20 when the south cross wing was used as a butcher’s shop, above which are exposed walls studs with wattle and daub infill. The right-hand wall is of Flemish bond red brick, possibly dating to the remodelling of the hall in the C18. The underside of the arch has exposed floor joists with wattle and daub infill and an arch-braced ceiling beam supported by an original storey post on its left-hand side and a C20 timber post on its right-hand side. The beam still retains several meat hooks and pulleys associated with the butcher's shop. The cross wings jettied first floor has an exposed jetty bressumer along with jetty brackets, storey posts, moulded bargeboards and a three-light casement with horizontal glazing bars and a moulded corbel sill at its centre. To the roof, there is a triplet of octagonal stacks at the junction between the central range and south cross wing.
The left-hand return is weatherboarded throughout with exposed rafter ends to the eaves.
The rear (west) elevation of the central range is of C18 Flemish bond brick with some burnt brick headers. Its ground floor has an early-C21 canted bay window of 1:3:1-lights, all with horizontal glazing bars, while the first floor has an eight-over-eight unhorned sash with square lights. Set within the re-entrant angle between the central range and north cross wing is a narrow two-storeyed block with a flat roof. Its ground floor has a two-over-two unhorned sash with a gauged brick head on its west side, while its narrower south side has an early-C21 half-glazed heck door to the ground floor and a single-light casement to the first floor.
The ground floor of the north cross wing, which projects beyond the building line of the central range, has a gabled single-storey extension which is largely an early-C21 rebuilding of a late-C19 addition. It has an early-C21 oak frame, with brick infill panels of both modern and re-used C19 bricks, and a slate roof. The upper floors of the cross wing are weatherboarded, with a single-light casement to the first floor and a two-light casement to the attic, both with square lights.
The south cross wing, which also projects beyond the building line of the central range, has C19 outshut to the rear of number 59A, to which a later addition adjoins it. The upper floor is jettied and roughcast rendered with an exposed jetty bressumer and storey posts. At its centre is a two-light casement with square lights.
INTERIOR: the front door leads into an east-west aligned entrance hall with plastered and painted walls and ceiling, the former with moulded skirting boards and picture rails, and an early-C21 tiled floor.
On its immediate right-hand side a six-panelled door with sunk bolection-moulded panels with bolection-moulded insets gives access to a room on the east side of the north cross wing. It has storey-high close studding throughout, of which the studs on the north and south walls are tenoned into exposed sill and girding beams, while those forming the east wall, which is bookended by jowled posts, are tenoned into the jetty plate, with no sill beam visible. The studs forming the west wall are tenoned into a sill beam only, with the patination of the timber on this side of the room suggesting that this wall is probably a later insertion, probably when the cross wing was extended in the late C16 or early C17. The door in the south wall sits within a moulded architrave above which is a flat-arched door head from a probable late-C15/early-C16 door that possibly originally gave access from the cross passage to the hall. This assertion is supported the exposed framing of the original cross passage entrance door (now blocked), which sits within the east wall, immediately to the right-hand side of the sitting room door, at the former junction between the hall range and north cross wing. It comprises a four-centred door head pegged into moulded jambs (the outer jamb mouldings carried around the square frame), over which short studs are morticed into the original jetty plate. The location of the two doorways indicate that the cross passage’s right-hand wall, which also formed the south wall of the northern cross wing, was removed when the house was remodelled in the C18/C19, with the current entrance hall being laid out across the northern end of the former hall. To the left-hand side of the original doorway, the two sashes in the east wall have panelled shutter cases with box frames set inside the sash box frame. To the left-hand again, at the north-east corner, there is evidence for a former window opening in the form of a shutter groove on the underside of the jetty plate, with the upper sections of three wall studs in this area appearing to be later insertions tenoned into the jetty plate but nailed to a shallow rail. On the west side of the room there is an off-centre right brick-built fireplace, plastered and painted to imitate stone, probably of C17 date, but heavily rebuilt in the late C20. It has a flat-headed surround with chamfered jambs and run-out stops within which is a recessed and chamfered hearth with a pseudo three-centred arch. To its right-hand side is exposed studwork to a former cupboard (now blocked) with the left-hand jamb having a mortice for a door latch. To the ceiling there are exposed joists and axial and transverse beams, of which the east to west aligned beam has lamb’s tongue stops at each end, while a through tenon joins the two beams.
At the right-hand end of the entrance hall a five-panel door with a glazed top panel and sunk bolection-moulded panels on the hall side and raised and fielded panels on the room side. On the east side of the room there is an inglenook fireplace with a heavy timber bressumer with adze marks. It is supported by modern brick piers below the bressumer, while the brickwork above appears to be original, possibly late C16 or early C17. To its right-hand is an exposed close-studded wall with the studs morticed into a late C16 or early C17 wall plate and a late-C20 sill beam. Set within the wall is a former timber-framed doorway which is now infilled with brick nogging. The north wall is also formed of exposed close-studding morticed into sill and girding beams, although the misalignment between the mortices in the two beams, along with the presence of peg holes and mortices in the studs themselves, suggests that the timber here is reused. The other two walls are largely plain plastered and painted, although the west wall has an exposed timber lintel to a now blocked window opening at its right-hand end. The ceiling has a heavy ceiling beam with flat chamfers and lamb’s tongue stops at each end. Its east end is supported by the fireplace while its west end sits on a modern brick corbel. The joists to the east side of the beam are deeper than those on its west side, suggesting that latter joists are later replacements, possibly infilling the opening for a former staircase. From this room a door in the west wall leads through to a single-storey rear addition which is largely of early-C21 date in its essentials and retains no historic features.
At the rear left-hand side of the entrance hall a six-panelled door with sunk bolection-moulded panels with bolection-moulded insets gives access to a kitchen which occupies the ground floor of the former hall range. Its east wall has a tripartite sash with a four-panelled shutter case with its box frame set inside the sash box frame, otherwise it is largely modern in its essentials.
Directly opposite the kitchen door, on the right-hand side of the entrance hall, a C19 dog-leg with winder staircase with an open-string, stick balusters and a curtail step with a cast-iron newel post supporting the curved end of a moulded handrail gives access to the first floor.
The room at the front (east) of the north cross wing is accessed through a door with four sunk panels and has exposed close-studded walls to the north and south sides, both with studs tenoned into painted girding beams and exposed wall plates; the north wall has a diagonal brace at its left-hand side which extends into the rear (west) room, while the south wall has a blocked doorway at its left-hand side. The west wall has a brick-built fireplace with a three-pointed arch below a timber bressumer, above which is a brick hood, all of narrow brick, probably of C17 date. To its right-hand side is a door with four sunk panels which gives access to a wet room which retaions no historic features. The ceiling has an east to west aligned axial beam with plain chamfers and lamb’s tongue stops at the west end, where it is tenoned into a cross beam.
The room at the rear (west) of the north cross wing is accessed from the landing through a modern plank and batten door. It has an exposed close-studded north wall, with the studs tenoned into an exposed wall plate, with plaster infill at the right-hand end and brick nogging to the remainder, all painted, with the wall plate having a pegged lap joint at the point where the infill changes, namely beyond the lined of the chimney stack. At its centre is a former two-light window opening which has been infilled with brick. The north-west corner has a gunstock jowled wall post, while the west wall is mainly plastered apart from a small section of exposed framing to a window opening, in which the timber lintel has diamond-shaped mortices for mullions now removed. The ceiling has an east to west aligned axial beam with plain chamfers and lamb’s tongue stops.
The attic storey of the north cross wing is accessed by a C19 straight-flight staircase with close strings, stick balusters and a moulded hand rail. The front (east) room is plain plastered throughout with exposed modern purlins. On the south side a plank and batten door which gives access to an early-C21 shower room with no visible historic features, although the wall studs behind the tiles on the south side are of waney-edged timber. The rear (west) room is accessed through a plank and batten door and has exposed studwork above and below a collar to its west wall. The sloping north and south walls have exposed purlins with mortices for later ceiling joists.
The first-floor room in the open hall is largely of early-C21 date in is essentials and retains no historic features of note.
The first-floor room in the south cross wing extends into the attic storey and is of a double height and divided into two deep bays by three collar and tie beam trusses (including the end walls) supported by jowled wall posts with curved braces to chamfered and cambered tie beams. The collars are supported by clasped purlins to which curved wind braces rise to their underside from the principal rafters. Walls are of exposed close-studding throughout, although the west side is now obscured by a single-storey partition accommodating a bathroom and a walk in closet, with the studs tenoned into exposed wall plates and girding beams.
The shop has a wall posts on an interrupted sill to the south wall, at least one of which has a jowled foot.
