Summary
A row of multi-phased buildings, originally constructed as shops with domestic accommodation above. The earliest fabric is likely to date from the C17 or early C18, with later building campaigns in the C18, early C19, and late-C20.
Reasons for Designation
33, 34 and 34A Market Place, a row of multi-phased buildings, originally constructed as shops with domestic accommodation above, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
Architectural interest:
* for their contribution to the traditional market place at the centre of North Walsham;
* for the survival of interior features of interest, particularly at attic level.
Historic interest:
* as a late-C17 or early-C18 set of combined commercial and domestic buildings.
Group value:
* the buildings form a functional group alongside the other Grade II listed commercial buildings around the market place, especially the neighbouring buildings at 32 and 35 Market Place.
History
The settlement of (North) Walsham was owned by the Abbey of St Benet at Holme by the early C11 and was recorded in the Domesday survey (1086). The town had an established market by 1275, helped by the local wool trade, especially following the arrival of Flemish weavers in the C14. Lightweight ‘Walsham’ cloth reflects the town’s significant position in the wool and weaving industry. The large size of the medieval parish church of St Nicholas expresses some of the prosperity derived from the trade.
Much of the town’s medieval fabric was destroyed by fire in the summer of 1600, including 118 houses, 70 shops and warehouses, and even more barns, stables, malthouses and outhouses. The town changed in the reconstruction, with new building styles and materials used, but the layout of the marketplace and the narrow width of plots remained. Despite the declining wool trade, the town remained a significant market centre as an agricultural trading point and, from the early C19, a place of manufacturing. The North Walsham and Dilham Canal was opened in 1826, and by the end of the C19 the town had two railway stations.
33, 34 and 34A Market Place have separate shop fronts and separate addresses, but they are not easily divided in other respects. 33 appears from the street to have been built in a separate phase of construction from 34, but the three different properties oversail each other across their storeys and do not maintain the same boundaries all the way up. The age of the buildings appear different from the front to the rear, too. A clear chronology for this site is not possible here, but certain facts can be established.
The earliest part of the site is the rear of numbers 33 and 34, the walls of which are likely to date to the C17 or early C18. The rear of 34A was rebuilt and extended in the late-C20.
The market-facing frontage of 34 and 34A is likely to date from the late-C18, while the similar frontage of 33 may be slightly later into the C19.
In 1842, number 33 was owned by William Johnson Senior and was occupied by William Johnson. It was recorded as a house and shop. Census data suggests that between 1861 and 1881 it was still occupied by the Johnson family, working as drapers and tailors, and between 1891 and 1901 by John Dyball, a china, glass and earthenware dealer.
34 and 34A (as a single property) were owned by George Wilkinson, John Woodrow and the Trustees for Mary Ann Davidson in 1842. They were occupied at that time by William Pope and used as a house and shop. The Pope family may have lent their name to that of 'Pope's Alley' which runs between the Market Place and the Churchyard on the ground floor of 34A. In 1861 William Pope (auctioneer, valuer and Post Office) appears to have been in residence here, succeeded in 1881 by Elizabeth Roberts (confectioner), in 1891 by Frederick Armes (tobacconist), and in 1901 by Annie and Mary Moore (confectioners/bakers). In the early C20 it was a greengrocers and cafe belonging to H Carpenter.
In 1986 permission was granted for the subdivision of 34 to create 34A. It may have been around that time that the rear of the building and Pope's Alley was repaired and reconstructed.
Details
A row of multi-phased buildings, originally constructed as shops with domestic accommodation above. The earliest fabric is likely to date from the C17 or early C18, with later building campaigns in the C18, early C19, and late-C20.
MATERIALS: the buildings are constructed from coursed red brick and flint rubble. The roofs are covered in pantiles.
PLAN: the historic plan has been altered so that there are no longer any domestic spaces.
EXTERIOR
Facing the Market Place:
Number 33 is a single bay wide and three storeys high. It has a post-war (around 1970) shop front with a granite riser and aluminium window frame. At first floor is a pair of horned sash windows (one-over-one). At second floor is a four-over-eight sash window. Both sets of windows have gauged brick arches and concealed sash boxes.
34 and 34A have shop fronts dating from after the 1986 subdivision of the property. This part of the building is three bays wide, three storeys high, and has a pitched roof with projecting eaves, covered in glazed pantiles. On the right-hand side at ground floor level is Pope's Alley, which was partially reconstructed in the late-C20. All the window openings have concealed boxes with gauged brick arches. At first floor there are eight-over-four sash windows on each side of a blind recess. At second floor there are three four-over-eight sash windows, all of which are without horns.
Facing the churchyard:
The north elevation faces the churchyard. The roofline here is not the same as the south side: numbers 33 and 34 share a continuous roof over the second floor, while number 34A drops down to the height of the first floor.
Numbers 33 and 34 are three storeys high and two bays wide with a roof covered in unglazed pantiles. There is a later brick pilaster or buttress separating the two bays. The walls are a patchwork of loosely coursed flint rubble and red brickwork. There is a doorway at ground floor level on the right-hand side, as well as a low three-over-three sash window. At first floor there is a blocked window, an unglazed louvred opening, and a two-over-two sash window with exposed boxes and no horns. At second floor level there are two eight-over-eight sash windows with exposed boxes and no horns.
Number 34A is two bays wide and two storeys high, with a pitched roof running all the way from the ridge over the second floor facing the market place. The wall is faced in late-C20 Fletton brick laid in stretcher bond. There is a multi-light timber framed casement window on the left-hand side, and a blocked opening on the right.
Pope's Alley has two small windows on the return elevation from the churchyard, and a further small window over the alleyway itself. The brickwork above the alley, facing north, is a patchwork of several phases from at least the C18 through to the late-C20. Within the alleyway, the wall of number 34A has been rebuilt in breeze blocks.
INTERIOR: all three addresses have shop units on the ground floor with ancillary spaces above. Almost all of these areas have shop fittings or surfaces which may cover historic features.
In 34 and 34A the historic stairs have been replaced in the second half of the C20.
The second storey is the least altered. Most of this floor forms part of number 33. From there it is accessed via a late-C18 or early-C19 staircase with a ramped handrail that has lost its banisters. The walls are covered in reed and plaster, with some areas of lath and plaster. An internal window has been used to borrow light for the stairwell. A good deal of the historic joinery survives, including two-panel doors, one reeded plank-and-batten door, and a small fitted cupboard. King post roof trusses survive over the highest points of the building. The floorboards are a mixture of wide oak boards and narrower C19 pine boards. A small amount of dado panelling survives at this level.
Number 33 is the only part with an accessible cellar, probably of C18 construction. It has been structurally strengthened in the C20 with the addition of brick piers and steel joists. The cellar continues underneath the Market Place with a barrel-vaulted cell. Parts of the cellar have pamment floors.
