Details
SAFFRON WALDEN
TL5338 BRIDGE STREET
669-1/1/32 (West side)
28/11/51 Nos.27 AND 29
GV II*
House. C15, altered in C16, enlarged in C20. Timber-framed and
plastered. 2 storeys and attics, peg-tiled roof. Rectangular
plan of house with rear full length ground floor lean-to,
large central red brick stack in front of roof apex.
Front, E elevation: jettied to S and recessed to N with
integral roof. Brace from jetty to projecting eave-plate,
together with projecting tie-beam and matching eave-brace from
jetty of No.31 (qv) shows building to be a `Wealden' open hall
house. Nos 27 & 29 occupy service and hall units. Elevation
plastered, old pargetting with decorative panels of zig-zag,
basket and semicircles. Jetty joists, brackets and
eaves-braces exposed. Ground floor now below street level due
to alteration of street gradient. S-N, C19 door of 6 beaded
panels, bay window, under jetty, of 3 casements and return
side casements with leaded panes, second similar window of
only slight projection on original hall window site with slate
roof, door with 6 beaded panels. First floor, S-N, two 3-light
windows with leaded panes, one in each unit.
Rear, W elevation: C20 restoration, windows all replaced and
earlier ground floor lean-to rebuilt in brick and rendered.
First floor timber and plastered. Roofs over hall (N)
peg-tiled, over service unit (S) slate, lean-to roof of
plastic (slate) tiles. Ground floor all doors fully glazed
with glazing bars. S-N, French window with side lights in all,
6x5 panes, window, double casement 4x3 panes, adjacent door
3x5 panes, second similar door and adjacent window. First
floor, 2 casement window 4x2 panes. Attic, 3 casement dormers,
flat heads, two 4x3 panes with one of 4x4 panes in between.
Stack above behind apex. The S end has C20 rebuilt lean-to
extension, now flat roofed, set above footway from street,
single plain first floor window.
INTERIOR: although altered, basic original position of service
partitions and doorways clear from stud mortices and wattle
grooves. Cross-entry and street door were set under, and
overshot by, first floor chamber. Evidence of 2 service doors
and buttery/pantry division. Also, in-line rear door to stair
trap to upper chamber. Remains of wide arched spere below N
edge of jettied chamber with rectangular grooving in frame for
boarded infill back to entry door jambs. Framing above tension
braced with wattle and daub infilling. Jetty joists are flat
laid and jointed by simple soffit tenons. Hall principal
tie-beam off centre, towards service end with exposed elegant
chamfered arched brace seen at rear. Brace shape is continued
round truss by tie-beam and principal post fillets. Crown-post
above (seen in attic) is 2-way braced with simple step-stopped
chamfers to post, collar purlin continues through roof with
bridled scarf joint over crown post and old mortices showing
former site of accompanying bracing from plain partition
crown-posts. Roof shows remarkably light sooting. Hall
wall-plate at rear has a long halved and bridled butted scarf
joint and a long shutter rebate over site of original hall
window. Hall was divided horizontally by a first floor c1550
using flat laid joists with step-stopped chamfers and
diminished haunched soffit tenons. Brick stack was probably
inserted then (now considerably rebuilt and blocked),
supporting the inserted floor. Stack on ground floor set
within central spere arch, ground floor fireplaces face both
hall and service area.
The house is a relatively large, robust, but minimally
decorated example of the several houses of `Wealden' type
found in Saffron Walden e.g No.24 (qv).
(The Buildings of England: Pevsner N & Ratcliffe E: Essex:
London: 1965-: 336).
Listing NGR: TL5352038679
