1, London Street

Summary

Built as a shop and warehouse in the early C19 with alterations in the late C20.

Reasons for Designation

1 London Street, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* as a historic commercial building, which contributes strongly to the architectural character and diversity of Swaffham’s historic Market Place;
* for the architectural quality of its red brick frontage, which is enlivened by dentilled eave cornice and gauged skewback arches.

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.

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).

1 London Street was built as a shop and warehouse in the early C19. The 1797 Faden map of Swaffham shows an L-shaped building, with one range facing onto London Street and the second range facing onto Pit Lane. The 1840 Tithe map shows a rectangular building with its long axis running along Pit Lane, and the same configuration is shown on the 1883 first edition OS map. It was converted to a shop and offices in the late C20, and in 2020 these were converted to three residential units and a shop.

Details

Shop and warehouse built in the early C19 used as a shop and offices in the late C20 and converted to three residential units and a shop in 2020.

MATERIALS: the building is constructed of flint and red brick laid in Flemish bond with a slate roof.

PLAN: 1 London Street faces west onto the Market Place with numbers 2 and 4 continuing east along Pit Lane. It is rectangular in plan form.

EXTERIOR: it is a three-storey building with a hipped roof to the west end and gabled to the east end with a central ridge chimney stack. It has a dentilled eaves cornice and all the openings below the attic have gauged skewback arches. The north elevation is four window bays wide which comprises four casement windows to the attic floor, four six-over-six pane sash windows to the first floor, and four six-over-six pane sash windows and one eight-over-eight pane sash window to the ground floor. The shopfront façade on London Street was replaced in 2021 and retained the early C20 glazed white tile stall riser. There is one eight-over-eight pane sash window on the first floor and a C20 two-light casement on the attic floor.

INTERIOR: this retains two winder staircases, a beam in the front room with stop mouldings, and one surviving brick lintelled fireplace.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

460567

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Pevsner, N, Wilson, B, The Buildings of England: Norfolk 2: North West and South, (1999)
Swaffham History Group, , The Book of Swaffham: The Story of a Norfolk Market Town, (2021)

End of official list entry

All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.

Print the official list entry