Summary
A mid-C19 house and shop.
Reasons for Designation
20 London Street, Swaffham, a mid-C19 house and shop, 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 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 16 and 18 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).
20 London Street was 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, but may originally have included an additional bay that now forms part of 16 and 18 London Street.
The building has a late-C19 shop front in its southern bay, which has been altered at some point in the C20 to block one doorway.
Details
A mid-C19 house and shop.
MATERIALS: the building is constructed of brick laid in Flemish bond and the pitched roof is covered in pantiles.
EXTERIOR: the principal elevation faces east on to London Street. It is three bays wide and two storeys high with a pitched roof covered in black-glazed pantiles. Close to the ridge, off-centre, there is a small skylight. There is a shallow eaves cornice. At each end of the roof ridge is a brick-built chimney.
The ground floor has a late-C19 shop front in the larger southern bay, at each end of which there are consoles on either end of a shallow frieze. The shop front is in three parts: at the left-hand side is a canted bay window with a large plate glass pane at the centre, and slim clerestory lights above. At the base of the bay window is an elaborate cast-iron grille. At the centre of the shop front is a blocked doorway. On the right-hand side is a further doorway, this with a half-glazed door, panelled reveals, and a six-vaned metal fan-light. The two northern bays each have a six-over-six unhorned sash window with concealed boxes, and along the whole base of the ground floor is a flint rubble plinth (now painted).
At the first floor, there are six-over-six unhorned sash windows with concealed boxes in each of the three bays.
There is a rear wing built of flint with brick dressings.
INTERIOR: the building was first listed in 1973 and its List entry was amended in 1996. Those earlier List entries describe a ‘C19 staircase with bobbin-turned balusters’ without any further description of interior features.
