Campions, Sewards End

Summary

A late-medieval vernacular hall house, altered and extended in the Early Modern period, and further extended in the Edwardian era.

Reasons for Designation

Campions, a vernacular hall house, altered and extended with decorative paint schemes from the Early Modern period and further extended in the Edwardian era, is listed at Grade II* for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* for the very rare survival of extensive late-C16 or early-C17 painted wall decoration in the parlour and hall chambers;

* for its surviving historic fabric, including the crown post roof and open truss of late-medieval open hall.

Historic interest:

* for the painted wall decoration which forms part of an even more extensive documentary record of the historic decorative schemes present in this house and is a valuable source of information for the history of vernacular architecture;

* as a multi-phased vernacular house with fabric dating from the late-medieval period to the C21, clearly displaying the evidence of its construction and evolution over half a millenium.

Group value:

* for its historic functional relationship with the Grade II listed barn to the rear of Campions.

History

Campions originated as a late-medieval hall house, probably as part of the same farmstead as the Grade II listed barn to its south (NHLE 1196249). At that time the house was most likely to be a single east-west range with a three-cell interior plan focused on an open hall at the centre. A cross passage and the lower-status areas of the building were at the west end of the hall, with the parlour and higher status accommodation at the east.

At some point in the mid or late C16 a chimney was inserted at the east end of the hall and a first floor introduced across the previously open volume of the hall. In the C17 the western end of the house was extended with a cross wing to the north, terminating in a stepped brick chimney stack. In the very early C20 the house was extended again, with an Edwardian cross wing in a vernacular style attached on the south side, in line with the principal chimney stack. The house was extended again in the early C21, on the south side of the Edwardian wing.

Some surviving elements of decoration date from the Early Modern occupation of the house. Most notably, an exceptional scheme of late-C16 or early-C17 polychromatic painting appears on all four walls of the parlour chamber at the east end of the first floor. Fragments of a 'plain scheme' in black and white can be found on the large chimney stack at first floor (the former hall chamber), while other plain scheme elements were recorded in 1909. Plain schemes were found in the first floor hall chamber, and in two rooms on the ground floor: the vertical studs of the timber framing were painted black while the daub in-fill panels featured bold zig-zags that framed (in two rooms) either a 'basket or vessel' or in fact a pomegranate surrounded by foliage, and (in the remaining ground floor room) a 'rising sun' motif with widening radial monochrome bands. Shortly after these features were rediscovered in the early C20 the plain scheme elements were almost entirely destroyed, though the partial survival of the hall chamber scheme was confirmed in 2021.

Many vernacular houses of middling status in the early modern period would have had some form of painted decoration. The schemes were capable of considerable flair and complexity by the late C16 or C17, especially in the higher status parts of the house. They could also be relatively simple, often monochromatic, highlighting the studding of a timber frame and providing some decorative signifiers of taste. These schemes were vulnerable to the changing tastes of later generations, and many have been scrubbed, painted, papered or plastered over and lost.

Details

A late-medieval vernacular hall house, altered and extended in the Early Modern period, and further extended in the Edwardian era.

MATERIALS

The building is timber framed and the roofs are covered in plain tiles.

PLAN

The building's plan has evolved from a three-cell hall house to include northern and southern cross wings.

EXTERIOR

The building is two storeys high with pitched roofs terminating in gables. The windows are all wooden casements with leaded rectangular cames. It comprises three perpendicular ranges, the earliest of which runs east-west parallel to the road.

Viewed from the north, at the left hand-side is the long east-west range containing the original elements of the hall house. The ground floor may have been underbuilt, obscuring an earlier jetty, and is walled in red brick laid in Flemish bond. At first floor the walls are rendered. There is a ridge stack rising through the centre of the roof. To the left, at ground floor, a porch shields a C16 or very early C17 door with a surround carved with a cherub. On the right-hand side is the C17 cross wing which terminates in a massive stepped end-stack. The roof contains a large dormer facing east.

The east elevation is a rendered gable with windows at ground and first floor, and an end-stack at the left-hand side.

The south-east corner of the house is formed by the angle between the hall range and the Edwardian southern extension. The hall range has some first floor close studs pinned to the plaster but unsupported by any lower timbers. The southern wing has half dormers.

Attached to the end of the southern wing is a C21 timber extension, clad in weatherboard and terminated by a wall of glazing.

The south-west corner shows the western side of the Edwardian extension, including a porch and chimney. The south side of the hall range has retained its close studding at first floor, with render covering the ground floor walls.

The west end of the house is formed by the hipped termination of the hall range and the side elevation of the northern C17 cross wing. Beneath the hipped roof at the end of the hall range is a close studded first floor, and a narrow, right-of-centre, end-stack. The cross wing is marked by a door with a canopy at ground floor, and a pair of joined dormers at first floor.

INTERIOR

The multi-phased nature of the building can also be read internally. The timber frame is largely exposed throughout and is a key feature, alongside the survival of fireplaces and the exposed back-to-back stack at the centre of the hall range. Some early elements of the frame reveal important changes, notably the survival of an open truss with a crown post roof, between two closed trusses, indicating the location of the medieval open hall. The back-to-back ground floor fireplaces have some apotropaic marks and historic features such as salt cellars within the brickwork. Some window openings retain the grooves for early shutters. The historic floor boards surviving at first floor level are likely to be original. The C17 northern crosswing has a blocked mullion window. There are some re-located linenfold panels at ground floor, and evidence of earlier subdivision can be seen in some beams where peg holes indicate the historic presence of internal partitions.

Campions possesses a rare set of surviving Early Modern wall paintings. Four rooms of painted decoration survived into the early C20. Two rooms of monochromatic decoration were entirely destroyed. The hall chamber reveals a glimpse of a similar scheme not entirely removed. The parlour chamber, by contrast, is entirely decorated with elaborate polychromatic paintings. A painted arcade of solomonic columns encloses the room, within these arches are painted flowers, foliage and patterns. A frieze runs above it, covering the wall plates. On the south ceiling, just above the wall plate, is a cartouche with the inscription "Give to the pore / Spende and be blest".

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

370734

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Christy, M, Maynard, G, On Some Early Domestic Decorative Wall-Paintings Recently Found in Essex in Transactions of the Essex Archaeological Society, Vol. XII, (1911), 23-37

Other
1843 Tithe Map for the parish of Saffron Walden
A. Kirkham, 'Campions, Sewards End, Saffron Walden, Essex: Report on the Wall Paintings' (September 2021)

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