15 Market Place

Summary

Building probably dating to the early C18 and in use as an inn by the late C18. Converted into a dwelling house in the early C20 and then used as a restaurant/café from the late C20.

Reasons for Designation

15 Market Place, probably dating to the early C18, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* it retains some timber framing and historic external detailing which enhances the varied architectural character of the Market Place.

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 on the Market Place, particularly with the adjoining 14 Market Place to the east and 15a Market Place to the west, and the Assembly Rooms to the west, all listed at Grade II.

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).

The origins of 15 Market Place are not known but it probably dates to the early C18. It was used as a public house since at least the late C18 as the official trade licensing records, which start in 1789, originally refer to it as the Queen’s Head until 1836, and then call it the Maid’s Head up to its closure in 1901. From the earliest date the tavern is recorded as being Copyhold to the Manor of Swaffham, and the first tenant named is James Mann who held the licence from 1789 until 1791. On Faden’s Map of Swaffham (1797), the building is shown forming part of the southern range of a U-shaped range of buildings. The outline on the 1840 Tithe Map is faint but appears to follow a similar configuration.

In 1847 the Maid’s Head was included in the sale of various licensed premises owned by the late John Morse. It was advertised as consisting of three parlours, a kitchen, a bar, cellar and six bedrooms, as well as a stable and hay loft. By the beginning of the C20, when the Maid’s Head ceased to be a tavern, the building was used as a private house. It was occupied by Percy Cross who opened a tobacconist’s shop in the left-hand portion of the building (now 15a Market Place). This was originally part of the tavern, probably used to house an ostler and to store hay etc, and in the 1880s it was occupied by William Arthur Miles, a glove maker and hairdresser, with his family. 15 Market Place was then made into two smaller cottages, until later in the C20 it became the Market Cross restaurant which advertised as ‘a C17 eating place’. It is still in use as a café (2024).

On the first three editions of the Ordnance Survey (OS) maps of 1884, 1905 and 1928, the range of buildings which now forms 14, 15 and 15a Market Place is subdivided into two approximately equal units. The OS map of 1970 then shows the range subdivided into two unequal units: a small unit on the eastern end (number 14), and a longer unit on the western end (number 15). The current (2024) OS map does not show the subdivision of number 15a on the western end. 14 Market Place and 15a Market Place are both separately listed.

Details

Building probably dating to the early C18 and in use as an inn by the late C18. Converted into a dwelling house in the early C20 and then used as a restaurant/café from the late C20.

MATERIALS: red brick laid in English bond. Pantiled roof.

PLAN: 15 Market Place has a rectangular plan and is in the middle of a range of buildings facing south onto the Market Place.

(The current Ordnance Survey map of 2024 does not show the subdivision at the western end, forming the separately listed 15a Market Place.)

EXTERIOR: the two-storey, three-bay building has a pitched roof with internal gable-end chimney stacks to the east and west, and a dentil eaves cornice. An early C20 half-glazed door is left of centre, and to its right is a small arched window with coloured glass in the margin lights. The outer bays are lit by three-light C19 casements, and there are three three-light, centre-opening casements to the first floor.

INTERIOR: photographs taken around 2023 by Swaffham Cultural Consortium and Swaffham History Group show some exposed timber framing.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

460603

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

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

Other
Unpublished research – Swaffham Cultural Consortium and Swaffham History Group
Hancock, M. The Maids Head Tavern, Swaffham, Swaffham History Group 9, Swaffham Inns, Taverns and Public Houses, 2013

End of official list entry

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