Westgate and Fernside, London Street

Summary

A pair of houses dating to around the late C18 and converted into flats in the C20.

Reasons for Designation

Westgate (13 London Street) and Fernside (15 London Street), are listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* as a pair of symmetrical and well-considered historic domestic buildings, which contribute strongly to the architectural character and diversity of Swaffham;
* for the architectural quality of their classical façades, which are enlivened by cornices, sash windows and decorative doorcases.

Historic interest:

* for the contribution they make to the evolution of London Street and the development of the town.

Group value:

* for their strong historic group value with many other listed buildings of a similar date and domestic function on London Street, particularly with the neighbouring Ventnor House (11 London Street) to the north and Thornton House (17 London Street) to the south, which are also 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).

Westgate (13 London Street) and Fernside (15 London Street) were built as a pair of houses around 1770. They are depicted on the 1797 Faden map of Swaffham as an L-shaped building, with one range facing onto London Street and the second range facing onto The Pightle. The 1840 Tithe map shows a similar configuration as does the 1883 first edition Ordnance Survey map. Fernside was sub-divided into flats in the C20.

Details

A pair of houses built in the late C18 with Fernside, London Street, being converted into flats in C20.

MATERIALS: Westgate and Fernside are constructed of red brick laid in Flemish bond with a roof of black-glazed pantiles to the front and red pantiles to the rear.

PLAN: the buildings’ principal range faces west onto London Street. They are roughly rectangular in plan with two rear wings aligned east-west.

EXTERIOR: the three-storey building is five window bays wide under a shallow-pitched roof. This has two red brick ridge stacks aligned with the entrance of each house. The building has a symmetrical elevation and all the windows are under gauged skewback arches. The attic floor has two three-over-three pane unhorned sash windows and one two-over-two pane horned sash window to the right. The first floor has three six-over-six pane unhorned sash windows. The ground floor has three two-over-two pane horned sash windows. There are two entrances which are placed in the second and fourth window bays from the left. Over the doors are blind windows to each floor. The doors are four-panelled and are set in a doorcase with plain side pilasters with a Greek key fret at the top, supporting plain entablature.

INTERIOR: Westgate retains a stick-baluster staircase with an arched staircase window to the rear.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

460573

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)

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