Summary
Former house, built in the late C17, with C18, C19 and C20 alterations and additions, including conversion to a shop with living accommodation above in the late C19.
Reasons for Designation
27 and 27a Market Place, a former house built in the late C17, with C18, C19 and C20 alterations and additions, including conversion to a shop with living accommodation above in the late C19, are listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
Architectural interest:
* as a late-C17 former house which, with its later conversion to commercial use, contributes to the character of an architecturally varied historic streetscape, with its flint, red brick and red pantiles providing a rich colour palette.
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 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 the Market Place and the overall character of the town is primarily of mid- to 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).
27 Market Place was built in the late C17 as townhouse. In the late C19, it was converted to a shop with living accommodation above, with the parapet raised and topped with cast-iron cresting at the same time. From the 1930s to 1957, the shop was occupied by the hairdressing salon of Mrs VC Smith. In the 1970s it became a health food shop, while the former living accommodation on the first floor was used as a commercial office. The ground floor is currently (2024) occupied by a pet grooming service while a flat has been created on the upper floors.
Details
Former house, built in the late C17, with C18, C19 and C20 alterations and additions, including conversion to a shop with living accommodation above in the late C19.
MATERIALS: of flint and brick, the ground floor rendered and whitewashed, with a pantile roof and brick stacks.
EXTERIOR: of two storeys in two bays, the ground floor has an off-centre right multi-paned door in a reeded surround with a timber hood on modillion consoles. To its right is a two-over-two horned sash with a shallow timber hood on curved brackets, and to its left is a late-C19 canted shop front with plate glass display windows and diamond-shaped transom lights. On the first floor there is an eight-over-eight unhorned sash to the left-hand bay a smaller six-over-six unhorned sash to the right, both with brick quoins and C19 timber hoods. The parapet was raised in the C19 in Flemish bond brick and is topped with C19 cast-iron cresting. Partly concealed behind the parapet is a gabled roof with a flat-topped dormer with a two-light casement. The two gable end stacks were rebuilt in the C20.
INTERIOR: the east wall has a blocked fireplace, formerly with winder staircase on south side. The ground and first floors have chamfered bridging beams with tongue stops, and the C18 roof has principals, two tiers of taper-tenoned butt purlins and collars.
