16 and 18, London Street

Summary

A mid-C19 house and shop.

Reasons for Designation

16 and 18 London Street, Swaffham, a mid-C19 house and shop, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* as a distinctive and historic commercial building, which contributes strongly to the architectural character and diversity of London Street.

Historic interest:

* for the contribution it makes to the evolution of London Street and the development of the town.

Group value:

* for its physical attachment to the neighbouring Grade II-listed building at 20 London Street, which similarly demonstrates a domestic and commercial function.

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).

16 and 18 London Street are likely to have been built in the mid-C19, probably after the 1840 tithe apportionment which shows a tight grain of burgage plots in this location. The building is three bays wide; its southern bay may have been constructed as part of what is now number 20 London Street, as its brickwork forms a continuous frontage with that building.

The building was first listed in 1973, and its List entry was amended in 1996. Those earlier List entries described a plate-glass shop display window of around 1870, with a plain frieze and canopy box. The shop front appears to have been altered in the intervening period: the glazing and entrance have been replaced, and the canopy box is no longer visible.

Details

A mid-C19 house and shop.

MATERIALS: The building is constructed of red brick laid in Flemish bond and the roof is covered in pantiles.

EXTERIOR: The principal elevation faces east on to London Street. It is three bays wide and two storeys high. The pitched roof is covered in pantiles. There is a shallow dentil cornice.

At ground floor level there are entrances to the left and right: that on the left has a six-panelled door and a covered over-light, between two pilasters; on the right is a passageway entrance beneath a flat brick arch. Between these two doorways is a shop front with a slightly projecting cornice.

At first-floor level, the left-hand bay is flush with the adjoining building at number 20 and continues its brickwork. A break in the building line occurs at the junction of the central bay, which projects forward slightly. The central bay has a canted oriel window comprising one-over-one and two-over-two horned sashes. The outer bays have six-over-six unhorned sash windows with concealed boxes.

The earlier List entries reported that there were no features of special interest internally, and no further inspection of the interior has taken place as part of the 2024 process of amendment.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

460574

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

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