19, 19a and 19b Market Place

Summary

Former house, built in the late C18, extended to the rear in the early C19, converted to two shops and an office in the late C20.

Reasons for Designation

19, 19a and 19b Market Place, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* as a former late-C18 house which, with its later conversion to commercial use, contributes to the character of an architecturally varied historic streetscape.

Historic interest:

* for the contribution it makes to the evolution of the historic Market Place and the development of the town.

Group value:

* it has historic and functional group value with many other listed buildings ranged around Market Place.

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 in 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 1776-1778, subsequently extended and modernised in 1817, and George Walpole, the Third Earl of Orford (1730-1791), 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).

19, 19a and 19b Market Place were built in the late C18 as a large townhouse. Faden’s Town Plan of Swaffham (1797) depicts a narrow rectangular range fronting onto Market Place, but the 1840 tithe map depicts a deeper building, suggesting that the rear had been extended during the early C19. From the early C20, the building became the residence of the postmaster to the adjoining post office (opened in 1894) and was known as Post Office House. A photograph taken in 1969 by Hallam Ashley for the National Buildings Record, when the building had become vacant following the closure of the post office, shows that its ground floor had a central six-panelled door at this time, along with flanking six-over-six horned sashes with gauged skewback arches and internal gable end stacks. In the late C20, however, the door was replaced with a plate glass door, the sash windows were replaced with two plate-glass shop fronts and the gable end stacks were removed.

Details

Former house, built in the late C18, extended to the rear in the early C19, converted to two shops and an office in the late C20.

MATERIALS: of red brick in Flemish bond with flint to the rear extension and a roof of black-glazed pantiles.

EXTERIOR: the principal elevation to Market Place is of two storeys plus attic in five bays. At the centre of the ground floor there is a late-C20 plate glass door with a shallow hood on curved brackets. It is flanked on each side by late-C20 timber shop fronts in a late-C19 style, both with stallrisers, fluted pilasters with plain pedestals, plate glass windows, shallow fascias; number 19 has a half-glazed door and number 19a has a plate glass door. The first floor has five six-over-six unhorned sashes of C19 date, all within C18 flush frames set under gauged skewback arches. Above is a dentilled eaves cornice. The roof has stone-coped gable ends and two flat-topped dormers separated by a gabled dormer, all with two-light casements with horizontal glazing bars. Both gable ends have tumbling, with the apex of each gable rebuilt in the late C20 when the internal gable-end stacks were removed.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

460607

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Pevsner, N, Wilson, B, The Buildings of England: Norfolk 2: North-West and South, (2002), pp679-680.
Swaffham History Group, , The Book of Swaffham: The Story of a Norfolk Market Town, (2021)

Other
Faden's Town Plan of Swaffham (1797).

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