London House, 3 Market Place

Summary

Former house, built in the early C18, partly rebuilt in the late C19 and mid-C20, now in commercial use.

Reasons for Designation

3 Market Place is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* as an attractive historic commercial building, which contributes strongly to the architectural character and diversity of Swaffham’s historic Market Place.

Historic interest:

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

Group value:

* for its proximity to and strong functional group value with other listed buildings on 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).

A building is shown on the site of 3 Market Place on Faden’s Plan of the Town of Swaffham of 1797, with a projection to the rear (east). The 25-inch Ordnance Survey maps published in 1884, 1905 and 1928 show the building split into three, with a projection to the front (south-west) elevation of the central and south parts. The north part of the front (south-west) elevation was demolished and rebuilt sometime in the late 1960s or early 1970s.

Details

Former house, built in the early C18, partly rebuilt in the late C19 and mid-C20, now in commercial use.

MATERIALS: the building is constructed of red brick with a red pantile roof covering; the south and east walls are roughcast.

PLAN: the building is rectangular on plan, comprising two parallel ranges, and faces west to Market Place.

EXTERIOR: 3 Market Place is a two-storey building facing west to Market Place, with five bays in two parts. The double-pile pitched roofs have red pantile roof coverings, and the rear (east) range has a ridge stack to its centre. The southern part of the front elevation has two first-floor windows containing four-over-four sashes with horns; the ground floor has large plate-glass windows and a corner entrance bay. The south end of the building has two Dutch gables and a late-C19 plate-glass shop display window. The northern part of the front elevation has a raised brick parapet, three window bays to the first floor containing mid-C20 six-over-six sash windows with horns, and a mid-C20 display window and glazed door to the ground floor.

INTERIOR: The interior was converted to offices and opened out into single spaces in the mid-C20.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

460593

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Pevsner, N, Wilson, B, The Buildings of England: Norfolk 2: North-West and South, (2002), p681
Swaffham History Group, , The Book of Swaffham: The Story of a Norfolk Market Town, (2021)

Websites
Norfolk Heritage Explorer, ‘London House, No.3 Market Place, NHER 46446’, accessed 20 February 2024 from https://www.heritage.norfolk.gov.uk/record-details?MNF51482

Other
Faden, Plan of the Town of Swaffham (1797)
Unpublished research – Swaffham Cultural Consortium and Swaffham History Group

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