8, 8a and 8b Market Place

Summary

Former townhouse, built around 1770, the front range added around 1780, partly converted to a shop by the early C19, then back to a private dwelling in the late C19. Used as an office in the 1950s, and then converted to a shop in the 1960s. In around 2017 the ground floor was subdivided into two retail units and a maisonette was created on the upper floors.

Reasons for Designation

8, 8a and 8b Market Place, Swaffham, a former townhouse built around 1770, with the front range added around 1780, including C19, C20 and early C21 alterations, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* as a former early-C18 house which, with is later conversion to commercial use, contributes to the character of an architecturally varied historic streetscape;
* for its distinctive and well-executed symmetrical façade, which is illustrative of the Georgian development of the town.

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 with The Shambles being established at its centre in the C17. The Market Place was probably open to the church on its east side, but later C17 development closed this off, while the redevelopment of The Shambles in the late C18/early C19 further reduced the open space in size. 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).

8 Market Place, formerly known as Hillside, was built around 1770 as a large townhouse, with the front range added around 1780. In the early C19 part of the ground floor had been converted into a tailor’s shop under a Mr James Johnson (1781-1861). On Mr Johnson’s retirement in 1857, the business and residence was taken on by Mr William Marriott, who ran it until he was declared bankrupt in 1861. The building subsequently reverted back to a private residence until the mid-1950s when it became the offices of Lenwood Limited, a local motor vehicle and agricultural engineers. From the early 1970s until 2015 the building was occupied by a succession of household electrical retailers. A single-storey extension was also added to the rear in the 1970s. In around 2017 the ground floor was subdivided into two retail units while a maisonette was created on the first and second floors, the latter resulting in the reinstatement of three dormer windows that were removed in the mid- to late C20.

Details

Former townhouse, built around 1770, the front range added around 1780, partly converted to a shop by the early C19, then back to a private dwelling in the late C19. Used as an office in the 1950s, and then converted to a shop in the 1960s. In around 2017 the ground floor was subdivided into two retail units and a maisonette was created on the upper floors.

MATERIALS: of red brick, rendered and whitewashed to the principal east elevation, with a pantile roof and brick stacks.

PLAN: of a double-pile plan.

EXTERIOR: of two storeys in five bays with a dormer attic, the centre of the ground floor has double-glazed doors flanked on each side by plate-glass display windows, all of late-C20 date. On the first floor, there are five six-over-six unhorned sashes, of which the three centre windows are slightly shallower than the end bay windows. The attic has three gabled dormers with three-over-three sashes, all installed in around 2017 as replacements for original dormers removed in the mid- to late C20. The double-pile roofs have internal gable-end stacks to the north and south. The left-hand return has an early-C21 plate glass door to the ground floor, a first-floor platband and two punched octagonal recesses in the gable head, that to the right-hand side (east) with a sundial gnomon. The rear range has C20 windows.

INTERIOR: the ground floor has been opened into an open-plan retail area.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

460597

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Swaffham History Group, , The Book of Swaffham: The Story of a Norfolk Market Town, (2021)

End of official list entry

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