37, MARKET STREET

Reasons for Designation

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION DECISION No. 37 Market Street is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

* It is probably an C18 or earlier vernacular building the fabric, plan form and internal detail of which remain largely intact * The use of local building traditions and materials make a crucial contribution to the distinctiveness of the regional landscape: this is a rarely surviving example of the use of clay or mud on a light timber frame * It is rare as an unaltered survivor of a very modest working class dwelling * It illustrates historical social and economic developments both national and regional

Details

SWAVESEY

222/0/10005 MARKET STREET 07-AUG-07 37

GV II Cottage, C18 or early C19, constructed of mud or clay on a light timber frame, with a clay pantiled roof. The house is covered in a modern render.

PLAN: The cottage is a rectangular baffle entry house with central chimney stack, one and a half storeys with mansard roof, with single storey lean-to extension to the rear forming an L shape, and a pitched roof single storey building tucked into the elbow between the lean-to and main cottage: this building butts up to but is not joined onto the main cottage.

EXTERIOR: The front, west, elevation has a centrally placed front door flanked by modern casement windows, above which are dormers with catslide roofs, both containing modern single paned casement windows. Timber framing can be seen in the side elevations, which also both have two horizontally set weatherboards, presumably providing additional protection to horizontal timbers concealed by the render. To the rear there is a back door, unmoulded four panelled, into the lean-to, and there is also an entrance in the south wall of the single storey extension. The extension has a chimney centrally placed on the ridge of the roof, and a window in the north elevation.

INTERIOR: The front door opens onto the chimney stack, with rooms to right and left, both heated by the central chimney. That to the south contains an large fireplace in the north wall with an inserted mid C20 tiled fireplace and hearth. A plank and batten door in the south west corner gives access to a small winder stair, which rises to the first floor. This gives directly into a bedroom, where a plain balustrade at the top of the stairs provides a safety barrier. A door in the north wall of this room, and to the west of the substantial chimney stack, leads into the second bedroom. There were no fireplaces in either room. The disintegration of a section of wall plaster in the first bedroom reveals the wall battens attached to the rafters.

The lean-to is open to the west half of the single storey rear wing, and this space formed the kitchen. The east half of the rear wing was most recently used as a bathroom.

HISTORY: Swavesey's size and apparent prosperity from the early middle ages until the C19 was due to trade made possible by its closeness to the River Ouse. Until the construction of the railway Swavesey was an inland port, with early docks in the village centre: these were moved in the mid C19 to north of the village, closer to the river. In 1244 a market charter was granted to Alan la Zouche, lord of Swavesey manor, and Market Street was laid out, with a dock at its east end. By 1279 there were 28 burgage plots in the market, but the size and location of the plot occupied by No.37 Market Street, at the east end of the central green, suggest that it is a later encroachment onto the market place, and this may be confirmed by documentary evidence. The dock in Market Street continued in use until the enclosure of Swavesey in 1840; there is a record of a house at its eastern end which was known as the coal house because of the coal landed there. At the time of enclosure a new dock was constructed to the north of the village and to the west of the church, and the old dock became dry. The first edition OS map of 1887 shows the outline plan of the cottage as it is today, with a separate rectangular single storey building to the south east: this seems to have gone, and has been replaced with a wooden garage on a different orientation. Subsequent historic OS maps clearly indicate that the rear wing of the cottage is a separate building, tucked between the elbow of the L shape of the main part of the house and the lean-to: this is the cottage as it survives now.

SOURCES: A. P. M. Wright & C. P. Lewis, Eds 1989. A History of the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely: Volume 9. Chesterton, Northstowe, and Papworth Hundreds. Victoria County History. South Cambridgeshire District Council, 2006. Swavesey conservation area. Draft council policy. Ravensdale, Jack. 1982. History on Your Doorstep. pp 8-29. London BBC.

REASON FOR DESIGNATION DECISION No.37 Market Street is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

* It is an C18, early C19, or earlier vernacular building the fabric, plan form and internal detail of which remain largely intact * The use of local building traditions and materials make a crucial contribution to the distinctiveness of the regional landscape: this is a rarely surviving example of the use of clay or mud on a light timber frame * It is rare as an unaltered survivor of a very modest working class dwelling * It illustrates historical social and economic developments both national and regional

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

503551

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Salzman, L F, The Victoria History of the County of Cambridgeshire and the Isle of Ely, (1989)
Ravensdale, J R, History on Your Doorstep, (1984), 8-29

End of official list entry

All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.