Broom Hall

Summary

Farmhouse, built as a lobby-entry house, probably in the mid- to late C17, and extended in the late C17, C18 and C19.

Reasons for Designation

Broom Hall, a mid- to late C17 lobby-entry house, extended in the late C17, C18 and C19, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:
* as a well-preserved example of a mid- to late-C17 lobby-entry house, extended in the late C17, C18 and C19;
* for the legibility of the original plan form and later extensions;
* for the survival of a high proportion of the clasped purlin roof of the lobby-entry house, which appears to have been constructed in the mid- to late C17;
* for the survival of historic interior features of significant architectural quality, especially the elegant stairs and polychromatic tiled floor of the entrance hall.

Historic interest:
* for the scale and architectural quality of the farmhouse, which indicate the agricultural prosperity, polite tastes, and social status of the inhabitants of Broom Hall in the C17, C18 and C19.

Group value:
* for the strong geographic group value Broom Hall holds with a number of nearby timber-framed and lobby-entry cottages built on Freewood Street in the C17 and early C18, including Seaton Cottage, Tregarthan Cottage, and Trapalanda, and a C15 open hall house with cross-wings at Yeomans Acre (all listed at Grade II).

History

The area of Bradfield (now comprising the villages of Bradfield Combust, Bradfield St Clare and Bradfield St George) was recorded in the Domesday Book in 1086 as a substantial settlement of 76 households. The Church of St George was begun in the Norman period, and extended throughout the medieval period, indicating a growing population. A number of medieval timber-framed buildings survive in the village of Bradfield St George, as well as a number of C17 and early C18 lobby-entry cottages.

The westernmost section of Broom Hall was most probably constructed in the mid- to late C17 as a two-cell lobby-entry house laid out on a north-south axis, facing west to Freewood Street, containing two rooms on the ground and first floors, one room either side of a central axial chimneystack. It appears an extension was soon added to the east of the south room, creating an L-plan building, and was extended to the east with the addition of a service wing in the late C17 or early C18. The house was reoriented to maximise views over the pond and garden to the south, most likely in the mid- to late C18, and a six-over-six pane timber sash window and shutters survive from this period. It is probable that the gabled extension in the north-west corner was also added in the mid- to late C18, and the interior remodelled, including the replacement of the main stair.

The Tithe records of around 1843 document the name of the house as White Hall, and the Tithe map shows an L-plan building, with detached outbuildings to the east, and ponds to the north and south of the house. A two-storey gabled extension was added to the north elevation of the service wing, and the service wing extended to the east by one bay around 1860. Broom Hall is named on the 1884 Ordnance Survey map, and is shown with a building attached to the south of the east end (which appears to survive as the flint and red brick wall projecting into the garden), and detached outbuildings to the east and south-east. A garden room was added to the south elevation around 1900 and is shown on the 1905 OS map. Some early C20 sources document the name of the house as ‘Broome Hall’. It is probable that the stable east of the house was constructed in the late C18 or early C19, the wood store, tool shed and potting shed added around 1860, and garage added around 1940.

Details

Farmhouse, built as a lobby-entry house, probably in the mid- to late C17, and extended in the late C17, C18 and C19.

MATERIALS: red brick walls laid in Flemish bond, and a clay-tile roof covering.

PLAN: L-plan farmhouse, comprising a rectangular-plan lobby-entry house (west range) laid out on a north-south axis, and a perpendicular extension and service wing, laid out on an east-west axis. Extensions were added to the north elevation in the C18 and C19, and to the east end of the service wing in the C19.

EXTERIOR: Broom Hall is a two-storey farmhouse, roughly L-shaped in plan, with projecting extensions to the rear (north) elevation. The roofs are pitched, with clay tile roof coverings, and four red brick chimney stacks, the largest to the centre of the west range, two to the ridge of the service wing, and one to the gable end of the C19 extension. The ridge height of the western section of the roof is approximately 0.6m higher than that of the service wing, and approximately 1.2m higher than the roofs of the C18 and C19 rear extensions. A single-storey porch to the north elevation and garden room to the south elevation have lean-to clay-tile roofs. Cast-iron hoppers and rainwater goods survive, some of which were renewed around 2015. Constructed of red brick laid in Flemish bond, the walls have been recently repointed, with ruled-and-lined render to the north elevation of the service wing. The north and south elevations have shallow yellow brick buttresses to the walls and corners, most likely added in the C19, while there is a red brick buttress on the south elevation, where the service wing was extended to the east around 1860. The west elevation of the west range has a substantial eaves course of angled bricks, and the south elevation of the service wing has a plain eaves course, broken by first-floor windows. The gables have plain bargeboards, which appear to have been replaced around 2015. There are a variety of windows throughout the house, mostly replaced by two-over-two timber sash windows in the C19. The south elevation of the west range and most easterly bay of the service wing have a tripartite window on the ground floor of around 1860. The south elevation of the service wing retains a six-over-six pane timber sash window, illustrating that the building was reoriented in the mid- to late-C18 to maximise views over the garden to the south. The C19 extension to the rear of the service wing has a variety of late C19 casement and sash windows. The largest and most substantial door is located on the west elevation of the west range, and has a six-panelled timber door (possibly C18) in a plain classical surround with engaged pilasters supporting a shallow dentilled cornice over (possibly replaced), opening to a cantilevered stone step. The single-storey porch on the north elevation (between the C18 and C19 extensions) has a four-panelled timber door (most likely mid- to late C19) within a shallow classical surround of engaged pilasters supporting a plain cornice (possibly replaced). The service wing has a late C20 or early C21 glazed door to the garden, and the C19 rear extension has a plain timber door to the service yard.

INTERIOR: Within the west range of the building, a mid- to late C17 timber-framed clasped purlin roof survives with wind braces and timber pegs. Additional rafters have clearly been added for support (probably in the C18), and a steel ridge beam was added around 2015. The west range contains two rooms on the ground and first floors either side of the axial chimneystack. The north room of the ground floor was converted to a grand entrance hall in the mid- to late C18, with an L-plan staircase rising along the north and east walls to the first floor (most likely replacing an earlier narrower stair on the east wall). The C18 stair has an open string, with a molded handrail, plain stick balusters and newel posts, and appears to have been remodelled in the mid- to late C19. The floor of the entrance hall has square terracotta tiles, arranged in a polychromatic diamond pattern, while there is a section of brick flooring to the west of the chimneystack where the lobby-entry would have been. The south rooms of the ground floor were remodelled as a drawing room and dining room in the C18. The fireplace of the drawing room was replaced and the fireplace of the dining room revealed around 2015, when a square opening was created between the two rooms, replacing a single door opening at the south end of the east wall. The dining room retains a round-arched niche to the south of the fireplace, infilled by a cupboard in the C18 or C19. From the entrance hall a corridor extends east along the north side of the service wing, to the north side of which there is a secondary stair in the C18 extension. The service range, containing the kitchen, scullery, pantry and sitting room appears to retain its original floor plan, with three substantial chimney stacks in the kitchen, sitting room and scullery. The sitting room has exposed timber framing where the east gable partitions were removed around 1860 when the service wing was extended to the east by one bay. The kitchen retains a mid- to late C18 window with shutters. The garden room, constructed to the south of the dining room around 1900, retains attractive perforated glazed tiles. The plan form appears to survive intact on the first floor, with a corridor running along the north side of the service range, and bedrooms to the west and south. The house retains late C18 or early C19 molded door surrounds and timber-panelled doors throughout.

SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: The stable east of the house, constructed in the late C18 or early C19, is a single-storey red-brick structure with a pantile roof, and retains a stable door on its south elevation. Perpendicular to the stable is a single-storey red-brick range containing a wood store, tool shed and potting shed, built around 1860. The gap between the sheds and the east end of the service wing was infilled by a garage around 1940. A flint and red brick wall extends south from the south-east corner of the house, representing a C19 outbuilding, since demolished.

Sources

Other
Ordnance Survey, Six-inch map, Suffolk LV.NW, surveyed 1883 to 1884, published 1884
Ordnance Survey, Six-inch map, Suffolk LV.NW, surveyed 1902 to 1903, published 1905
Tithe record and map, 1843
Quiney, Anthony, 'The Lobby-Entry House: Its Origins and Distribution' in Architectural History, vol. 27, 1984, pp. 456–466. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/1568487, accessed 23 August 2018

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