21 and 23 Market Place

Summary

Former inn, now public house, probably built in the mid-C17 on the site of an earlier coaching inn, with later alterations and additions, including a subdivision in the C19 to create a separate house with shop.

Reasons for Designation

21 (the former King’s Arms) and 23 Market Place, Swaffham, are listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* as a prominent and architecturally distinguished commercial building in which flint, red brick and red pantiles provide a rich colour palette;
* it retains a rich repository of fabric relating to its C17 origins and later remodelling, thereby illustrating the evolution in public house architecture from one rooted in local vernacular building traditions in Norfolk to one in which the business within demanded a pub front with uniformity and symmetry.

Historic interest:

* it contributes to the coherent commercial townscape that forms one of the most important historic public spaces in Swaffham, one that continues to reflect the historical development of the town.

Group value:

* it has a strong historic and functional group value with many other listed buildings ranged along the 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 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).

The King’s Arms is believed to have been built in the mid-C17 on the site of an earlier coaching inn known in 1608 as The Three Fishes. Little is known of the building’s subsequent history until the 1840 tithe apportionment when the owner is recorded as Smith Barker and the occupier (landlord) as John Claxton. The tithe apportionment also confirms that number 23 had been subdivided as a separate house with a shop by 1840, with its occupier being Ann Ellery, who is believed to have run a milliner’s business from the premises from around 1786. In 1847, the pub, house and shop were advertised for sale by the Swaffham Brewery. At this time the pub comprised a public bar along with two parlours, eight bedrooms, a large club room and three stables. An early-C20 photograph of the pub, possibly taken around 1916, shows that its ground floor was unrendered at this date and its three-light cross casement windows were of a slightly different design to those currently installed. The two pub doors were also glazed at this date, with the hood over the left-hand door also being shallower. A photograph taken in 1947 shows that the ground floor was still unrendered at this date, but the windows to its centre and right-hand bays had been replaced with the current three-light cross casements, and six-panelled doors had replaced the glazed doors. To the right-hand bay, two one-over-one sashes and a timber door had also been inserted, but these were removed and replaced with a three-light cross casement window in the late C20, possibly in 1978 when the pub was refurbished and re-opened by the Norwich Brewery. The ground floor may have also been rendered at the same time. In 2010, the pub was closed was put up for sale. It subsequently reopened in 2012, including the addition of a new function room at the rear, but closed once again in mid-2014. It subsequently reopened again in November 2014 as a gastro pub but has since closed and currently (2024) stands disused.

The 1947 photograph also shows that 23 Market Place was occupied as a shoe shop at this time, trading under the name AE Sherwood. Prior to this, from 1901, the shop was occupied by the boot and shoemaker Charles Young, who is recorded in the 1911 census as also being a retailer in these products. In 1962, 23 Market Place was sold at auction, and by the following year it was occupied by an electrical goods retailer. It since remained in commercial use under various retailers.

Details

Former inn, now public house, probably built in the mid-C17 on the site of an earlier coaching inn, with later alterations and additions, including a subdivision in the C19 to create a separate house with shop.

MATERIALS: of flint and brick, the ground floor to number 21 rendered, with a pantile roof and brick stacks.

EXTERIOR: the building is of two storeys with a dormer attic in four bays. The three left-hand bays correspond to the King’s Arms (number 21) and have two mid-C20 six-panelled doors in plain surrounds, that to the right with a C19 hood on curved brackets and that to the left with a late-C20 hood. The windows alternate with three-light cross casements, all of mid-C20 date, while the fourth bay to number 23 at the right-hand end has a late-C20 shopfront with a recessed central doorway flanked by plate glass display windows. On the first floor, number 21 has three four-light casements while number 23 has a four-light casement with a transom, all with timber lintels. The gabled roof has four flat-topped dormers, all with two-light casements with horizontal glazing bars. There are internal gable-end chimney stacks and a central ridge chimney stack, all rebuilt in C20. The west gable end is of flint with some minor tumbling.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

460611

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Pevsner, N, Wilson, B, The Buildings of England: Norfolk 2: North-West and South, (2002), p682.

Other
Norwich Mercury, 14 August 1847, p1.

End of official list entry

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