14 Beacon Bottom

Summary

A timber-frame house with a lobby-entrance plan, built in around the late 16th to mid-C17th century.

Reasons for Designation

14 Beacon Bottom, Fareham, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* for the survival of a significant proportion of pre-1700 building fabric including much of the timber-frame with jowled posts, floor-plates, the queen-post roof structure and substantial brick stack which retains early brickwork, particularly at the upper level;
* for the good legibility of the building's original lobby-entry plan.

Historic interest:

* as a dwelling dating to at least the C17 which is illustrative of modest vernacular domestic buildings and local building traditions of the period.

History

14 Beacon Bottom has a lobby-entry plan and small-panel timber-framing incorporating straight wall bracing, jowl posts and clasped purlins. The plan form and timber-frame construction indicate a date of around the late C16 to mid-C17. The historic range has two bays on either side of a central stack. A single-storey bay with a catslide roof was subsequently added to the south-west end. The building appears on the Titchfield Tithe map (published 1837), recorded as tenements and gardens and depicted as a single range with a rectangular footprint orientated south-west to north-east. A similar footprint appears on the First Edition Ordnance Survey map (1:2500, published 1868). By the early-C20 a porch had been added to the south-east elevation.

A two-storey wing was added to the north-west side of the building in the mid-C20 and the bottom of the main staircase, which was replaced in the C20, extends into this wing; the mid-C20 wing and the later single-storey lean-to attached to its north-east side, are excluded from the listing.

Details

House, dating to around the late C16 to mid-C17.

MATERIALS: small-panel timber-framed building with painted brick nogging and rendered panels, and multi-phase brick to the ground floor. The building is covered by water-reed thatch.

PLAN: the front range has a two-bay lobby-entry plan on a south-west to north-east axis, with a third bay added to the south-west end. There is a porch to the south-east.

EXTERIOR: the front range is single-storey with an attic. The building has a hipped thatched roof. The windows have all been replaced by double glazing in the late C20 or early C21; some are set within earlier openings.

Much of the ground floor has been underbuilt in brick at various phases. The front (south-east) elevation has an off-centre entrance which is in line with the stack above. In front of the entrance is a C20 thatched timber-frame porch on a brick plinth which is flanked by windows. Further to the south, within the single-storey bay, is a set of C20 French doors. On the first floor the visible timber-framing includes straight diagonal wall bracing, posts, a girding beam and wall plate. A pair of dormer windows has been inserted into the roof over the front elevation. The north-east elevation has a C20 oriel window. The rear (north-west) elevation of the main range has exposed timber framing on both storeys, including the ground-floor mid rail, and retains original window openings with later windows inserted.

The water reed thatch roof has a decorative ridge and a pair of thatch animal finials. The brick stack over the main range is covered in concrete render.

INTERIOR: directly in front of the entrance is a substantial brick chimney with a room either side. The room on the north-east side of the chimney contains a central axial beam with deep ceiling joists either side; above are pine floorboards. The former ground-floor rear wall of the front range at this end of the building has been partly underbuilt in brick. The south-west side of the chimney has a large fireplace which has rebuilt in modern brick and topped by a modern bressummer. It faces into a room with an axial beam and deep ceiling joists with tenon joints. The beam is chamfered with the partial survival of stepped stops at either end. The floorboards above are much wider and earlier than those over the north-east end of the building. At the south-west end of the room, the former end wall of the two-bay structure has been removed at ground-floor level, with empty mortices visible in the surviving girding beam. Substantial timber posts have been added to provide support, and an additional transverse beam has been added to the girding beam’s south side. At the south-west end of the building, within the single-storey bay, is a further axial beam with deep ceiling joists; some of these have been replaced with later wood. Metal straps and ties have been added to provide additional support to most of the ceiling beams on this side of the building. Later timbers have been added elsewhere to support the earlier timber frame. On the north-west side of the chimney is a C20 straight-flight set of stairs; it is most likely in the location of an earlier staircase.

On the first floor, the brick chimney tapers up to the roof and part of the building’s timber-frame is visible internally, including the tops of several jowl posts. There is evidence of at least one small section of historic wattle and daub surviving behind a later wall covering. There is a tie beam supporting the hipped north-east end of the roof. There is a principal queen-post truss on the north-east side of the brick stack which contains carpenter’s marks; the tie beam has been cut through to create a doorway and only one of the queen-posts is visible. There is a further principal truss over the south-west end; most of the posts and bracing at this end have been replaced by later circular sawn wood. Beyond is the roof over the single-storey bay. Within the partially ceiled attic are the remains of a pair of clasped purlins, as well as collars, principal rafters and several pairs of common rafters. One of the principal rafters has an empty mortice which may have been the location of a lost wind brace. The roof has been reinforced with several later timbers and metal straps. Modifications to the roof structure include the removal of some rafters.

There are several decorative C20 and C21 timbers which have been added to the internal walls at ground and first-floor levels. Openings have also been made within the former rear wall of the main range on both floors.

Sources

Other
Titchfield Tithe map (published 1837)
First Edition Ordnance Survey map (1:2500, published 1868).

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