The Emplins

Details

GAMLINGAY CHURCH END TL 2452 (South west side) 12/35 21.2.72 No 2 (The Emplins)

GV II*

House, formerly rectory house. Mid-late C15. Open hall with north and south crosswings. Extension added and floor and stack inserted C16. Timber frame, exposed, and rendered wattle and daub infill. Plain tiled roofs. Red brick ridge stack inserted into cross-passage in south crosswing. Early-mid C16 red brick projecting side stack added to north crosswing with diagonally set shafts. Plan of double ended open hall house originally with extensive ranges (now demolished) of service and outbuildings to the south east. (1601 Map of Gamlingay). Two storeys. Hall is in three bays, with south bay structurally integrated with the south crosswing. Framing of close set studs of substantial scantling. Some inserted windows of late C20, but the sill of one first floor window is visible on west side. South crosswing of three bays. The first floor is jettied at east end. Jetty beam on joists carried on shaped brackets rising off fragments of four half-octagonal pilasters. Doorway to cross-passage in east end leads to an original porch with plank and muntin partition wall on south side. Four centred hollow moulded outer and inner archways in square heads and double chamfered beams spanning the cross-passage. The cross-passage has been blocked by the inserted stack. At the west end of the cross-passage the original site of the doorway is visible in the wall. The present entry on the west side is now in the north wall of the south crosswing. This has a reset C16 door of three ridged planks. A two light diamond mullion window remains in the west gable end and in the south side wall are two windows each of three segmental lights in square head. There has been some restoration of the mullions. The framing in this crosswing is similar to that of the hall range. The north crosswing is of two building periods. The two bays to the west are probably contemporary with the rest of the house. The framing is exposed externally. The north wall has been substantially rebuilt in brick. The roof has also been rebuilt and new rafters inserted except for the west end where the truss with downward bracing remains. At first floor there is an eight light diamond mullion window with modern mullions and original shutter groove. At the east end this crosswing was extended by two bays in C16. The-wall of the extension is butted against that of the original wall. Two storeys with the first floor jettied in the south side. The joists are carried on shaped brackets. Ovolo mullion to a two-light window at first floor. At the east end of the extension there is some structural evidence to indicate that the wing has been curtailed. Interior: Hall range has inserted floor with deep stop chamfered main beams. Back to back hearths. Reset linenfold panelling to a door in the ground floor and broach stops to middle rails. The roof is in three bays with a central display truss. Clasped side purlin roof with the purlin jointed to the principal of the display truss. Hollow moulded principal rafters, purlins and collars. Soot blackened generally. Paired wind bracing. The side wall of the south crosswing forms the roof partition between the south crosswing and hall. The south crosswing roof is structurally similar to that of the hall range. There is an original partition wall between second and third bays at the west end from ground floor to the roof space. The tie beams are cambered and arch braced. The late C15 part of the north crosswing has a first floor chamber painted c.1600. There are biblical texts in black lettering with Italianate ornament, grotesques, acanthus scrollwork, putti, and fanciful motifs. The wall paintings in this chamber remain on all four walls, although on the north wall some have been removed following the rebuilding. The wall painting of c.1600 overlays earlier vermilion painting. A partition wall in this room, reset, has linen fold panelling. The chamber adjoining, added C16 is also painted with a foliate motif on one stud and part of the wall plate having so far been revealed. The house is the former rectory and was leased by Merton College. In 1483 it was leased to Thomas Byrd who probably built the present house. A map of 1602 in the possession of Merton College shows extensive ranges of farm and other-buildings round a courtyard of which the existing house remains.

RCHM: West Cambs mon (7) E C Rouse: Report on Scheme of Wall Paintings (1977) VCH: Cambs vol V Pevsner: Buildings of England p 391 C Brown: Mss Notes

Listing NGR: TL2419652309

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

52699

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Salzman, L F, The Victoria History of the County of Cambridgeshire and the Isle of Ely, (1973)
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Cambridgeshire, (1954), 391

Other
An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Cambridgeshire West, (1968)
Rouse, EC , Report on Scheme of Wall Paintings, (1977)

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