Burefield

Summary

Country house, built around 1911 as a holiday cottage, extended in the mid-1930s with some alterations in the mid-C20.

Reasons for Designation

Burefield, a country house built around 1911, extended in the mid-1930s with some later alterations, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:
* as a substantial holiday cottage, executed in the picturesque or cottage orné style favoured in the northern Broads, extended as a family home in the interwar period;
* as an important example of a building type that is distinctive to the Broads;
* for its little-altered exterior which celebrates vernacular building traditions and craftsmanship;
* for its well-preserved interior, which retains much of its original joinery and fixtures.

Historic interest:
* as evidence of the evolving social, ecological, sporting and recreational history of the Broads in the late C19 and C20, and the increased demand for a quieter life in the countryside during the C20.

Group value:
* for the historic and functional group the house forms with its numerous estate buildings, including a barn, moon gate and garden wall, tractor shed and apple store, car garage, tennis court, machinery shed, boat shed 65m south of the house and summerhouse, each listed at Grade II.

History

The Broads are a network of rivers (Ant, Thurne, Bure, Yare, Waveney and smaller tributaries) and lakes which cover the eastern part of Norfolk and Suffolk. In 1888, the Broads were conserved by an Act of Parliament and a holiday market developed. Pleasure boating had become increasingly popular by this time, and the Broads also offered the opportunity to fish and shoot. Continuing into the early C20 holiday waterside chalets and boathouses were built, initially for mainly affluent city dwellers who sought refuge within the wild and undeveloped wetlands. Some of the most popular areas for the chalets were around villages with transport links to major towns and cities, and those which already offered recreational facilities. Entrepreneurial boat builders and hirers began to provide tourist facilities that offered alternatives to boating; they also helped facilitate and build the early chalets around Wroxham, Hoveton, Horning and Hickling in the undulating, wooded scenery of the northern Broads, known as the upper reaches. These chalets tended to be in a Tudor style, with half-timber walls, natural tree stump balustrading, and thatched roofs. On most early examples, the roofs were thatched in local reed, the best reed coming from specially cultivated Norfolk beds (which was also used outside of the Broads).

In March 1911 Mr Lewis Henry Tuthill Storey (1889-1961, then aged 22) purchased a small plot of land near Wroxham for £200 and built a thatched boathouse. Storey came from the Tuthill Storey family of flag manufacturers with commercial premises (George Tuthill Ltd) at 83 City Road in Islington, and the 1911 census records that the family resided at 29 City Road. By the time Lewis Storey sold his Wroxham boathouse in 1913 the deeds describe it as a bungalow and boathouse known as ‘Staithecot’, indicating that the building had either been extended or partially remodelled, such as the conversion of a sail loft to living accommodation (listed at Grade II). Around that time Lewis’ father Henry William Ernest Storey (1862-1923) purchased land 1.5 miles south-east of Horning, west of St Benedict’s Church (listed at Grade II*) and set about creating a new country retreat. He built a thatched house, apparently originally no bigger than a cottage, on a height overlooking the River Bure (Country Life, 1978). Surviving interior evidence suggests the original house, built around 1911, was three storeys over a cellar. It appears the detached, thatched car garage 5m north-west of the house and thatched boat house 65m south of the house also date from this time; the thatched boat house 90m south of the house may have also been constructed at this time but was rebuilt over a concrete plinth in the mid-C20. Lloyd’s ‘Register of Yachts’ and 'The Mercantile Navy List and Maritime Directory' record father and son keeping a number of yachts at Burefield from at least 1914 until 1936. The 1921 census recorded Henry as being resident at ‘Bure Field’; he, his wife Georgina, daughter Josephine and son Lewis were later all laid to rest in the churchyard of neighbouring St Benedict’s Church.

Lewis Storey married Marion Kinloch-Wylie (1890-1975) in 1924, and they transformed Burefield into an impressive country estate, probably in the mid-1930s. The house was extended to the west to provide additional cellar rooms, a garage and games room at ground floor level, a large drawing room and additional bedroom at first floor level, and two additional bedrooms and a family bathroom at second floor level. These later additions are defined externally by crazy or ‘drunken’ brickwork and have slightly different (more bulbous) window furniture internally, but overall, the extension was designed to complement the earlier building. A thatched barn, moon gate and garden wall, greenhouses, thatched tractor shed and apple store, tennis court, thatched machinery shed (dated 1934), two thatched summerhouses and footbridges were constructed during this phase of improvement. All are shown on the 25-inch Ordnance Survey map, revised in 1938 and published in 1941.

The Gardeners’ Chronicle in 1938 recorded the estate as having a gardener, before the outbreak of the Second World War (1939-45). The 1939 Register (taken after the outbreak of the war) records Lewis H Storey as a warehouse property owner and flag manufacturer and his wife Marion K Storey as a marine woman, living at Burefield alongside Marion’s mother, a resident housekeeper, cook, two housemaids and a male physician and surgeon. In Arthur Morgan Derham’s fictional book, ‘The Cruise of the Clipper’ (1951) an illustration of ‘Brackley Hall’ at the beginning of Chapter III appears to be based on the view of Burefield from the water. Comparison of a range of historic photographs taken from the river in the mid- and late C20 indicate a number of alterations took place on the south elevation of the house in the mid-C20 (shown on a 1968 photo from the river and described in the Details section below).

The name of the architect of Burefield is not known. A number of well-established architects were working in this area in this period such as Edward Thomas Boardman, who designed his family’s holiday home at nearby How Hill, Ludham in 1903, which he extended as his family’s main residence in 1918; it is a two-and-half storey villa in the vernacular style, also with a thatched roof (listed at Grade II). Elsewhere in the Broads, Boardman and Sons extended Whiteslea Lodge near Hickling, a single-storey thatched shooting lodge, for Lord Desborough in 1931 (listed at Grade II).

Details

Country house, built around 1911 as a holiday cottage, extended in the mid-1930s with some alterations in the mid-C20.

MATERIALS: The roof is thatched with Norfolk reed and has an ornate ridge. The walls are generally of red brick to the ground floor and half-timbered to the first and second floors with rough render infill. The first floor of the 1930s (west) extension has ‘crazy’ or ‘drunken’ brickwork.

PLAN: The house is roughly rectangular on plan, comprising a rectangular-plan cottage, built around 1911 and extended to the west in the mid-1930s.

EXTERIOR: The house is two-and-half and three-and-half storeys in height over a cellar. The roofs are generally pitched and thatched with Norfolk reed and ornate ridges. There are two red brick chimneystacks, one on the south slope of the early C20 building, and the other on the west gable of the 1930s extension. The walls are generally constructed of red brick laid in English bond at ground floor level; the brickwork of the 1930s extension is browner in colour. The upper floors are half-timbered and rough rendered; the south and north elevations of the 1930s extension have ‘crazy’ or ‘drunken’ brickwork between the half timbering on the first floor. All windows contain leaded lights, and the different phases are only discernible internally due to differing window furniture. Those windows that open, generally open on a vertical pivot.

The south elevation facing the River Bure has two gables with a window bay to the east of each gable, a second-floor turret to the east side of the west gable, and an L-plan stair rising from the south-east corner to the east side of the east gable. The roof of the early C20 building has two second-floor dormer windows. The east gable, built around 1911, is jettied at each level; the second floor has a canted oriel window, under which a carved corbel was added in the mid-C20 depicting a squirrel with acorns and oak leaves; this motif is found elsewhere on a bronze roundel on the machinery shed (dated 1934) and on the terrace over the tennis court. Ornately carved wooden brackets under the first and second floor jetties appear to have been reclaimed from elsewhere and added to Burefield in the mid-C20. The first floor now has a curved oriel window which replaced a five-light window the width of the gable in the mid-C20. The L-plan stair to the right of the east gable with curved steps and a closed, half-timbered balustrade, replaced a straight stair with an open timber balustrade in the mid-C20. The oak door at the top of the stair is original, having an ornate moulded surround, long vertical panels, wrought-iron strap hinges and original door furniture; over the door is the carved wooden bust of an angel reclaimed from elsewhere and installed at Burefield in the early or mid-C20.The wall of the ground floor kitchen was extended outwards in the mid-C20 so that it became flush with the first-floor jetty. The kitchen door was moved to the side, accessed from an open porch under the stair, and the door was replaced in 2025. The former two-light kitchen window was replaced by a four-light window in the mid-C20. Between the two gables a two-light window was replaced by metal-framed and glazed double doors in the late C20. The west gable has a single attic window to its apex, and a window with five leaded lights to the second floor. The first floor has a twelve-light box window with substantial mullions and a canopy over; the canopy is shown on early photographs of the building taken around 1940. The ground floor previously had two two-light windows, which were moved to the north gable and (are in the process of being) replaced by a wide glazed door in 2025.

The north elevation of the early C20 house is two-and-half storeys in height, having a segmental-arched dormer containing a three-light window. The first floor is half timbered with three bays of windows, the west bay having a three-light curved oriel window. The ground floor has a single-storey porch with a thatched lean-to roof, which is half-open on the east side, and the west side contains a WC accessible from the west side. Within the open porch, a door with long vertical panels and original door furniture survives. To the east of the porch, a window was (in the process of being) introduced in 2025. To the west of the porch are three stair windows and another window. The gable at the west end, added in the mid-1930s, is three-and-half storeys in height with a single window to the attic, two window bays to the second floor and an angled window in the return of the two ranges, a single window bay to the first floor, and a four-light window to the ground floor, which replaced a single window bay and double garage doors in 2025.

The east elevation is gabled and has a single bay of windows to the attic and second floor. The first floor has three bays of windows; the south bay has an oriel box window, with a pitched thatched roof and windows to its north, east and south sides. The ground floor has three window bays, the north bay of which has two bottom-hung casement windows under a segmental arch with security frames to the sides of the windows.

The west elevation has a two-storey canted bay to the ground and first floors and a canted oriel window to the second floor. From the south-west corner of the house, a straight flight of steps descends to the cellar and is bounded to the west by a red brick wall.

INTERIOR: The interior has clearly separated functions on each level: a cellar at basement level, service rooms at ground floor, reception rooms at first floor, and bedrooms at second floor. Throughout the house a high proportion of half-glazed doors survive; they are relatively narrow in a moulded surround, the upper third of the door has a square glazed panel of 16 leaded lights, and two long vertical panels under. A high proportion of original leaded windows survive throughout the house, operating on a vertical pivot. The two phases of windows can be discerned by the different styles of their window furniture; the house built around 1911 has slender spiral-ended window handles and latches, while the 1930s handles and latches are more bulbous.

The cellar, built around 1911 and extended in the mid-1930s, is accessed from the west side of the building and also from the entrance hall under the main stair, though the top of the stair has been floored over. There are three former coal chutes from the north elevation, one into the early C20 cellar, and two into the 1930s cellar. Within the early C20 cellar, a former dairy store retains its mesh window, two levels of shelves along the west wall and a half-glazed door. The former coal store later had brick bins added along the west wall and has a timber-battened door.

At ground floor level the door from the north elevation leads to an entrance hall, off the east side of which were three cold rooms paved with diamond-shaped polychromatic marble tiles, laid within a marble border. These rooms have security shutters to the exterior suggesting they were most likely used for hanging game and a boot room for hunting; one of the marble-tiled rooms has been converted to a WC and the boot room retains glazed tiles to its walls and a borrowed light from the WC. From the west side of the entrance hall, a L-plan stair has three stair windows on the north wall, square-plan newel posts with shallow finials, a moulded handrail and alternating stick and panel balusters, the panels having a vertical arrow-shaped opening. The ceiling over the stair suggests there may have been some extension at first floor level in the mid-C20. On the west wall under the stair is a half-glazed door, formerly to the cellar (entrance covered over). South of the entrance hall, the kitchen was extended to the south under the jetty in the mid-C20 and was refurbished in 2025. Service bells manufactured by Boulton and Paul of Norwich are displayed on the east wall of the kitchen, most likely introduced in the mid-1930s, and a high proportion of the bells survive throughout the house. West of the kitchen it is likely internal walls were removed in the late C20 to create an open plan kitchen and family room. The wall and two doors west of the family room and the wall between the former games room and garage in the 1930s extension were removed in 2025 to create a large open-plan kitchen and living space. A fireplace on the west wall of the former games room was removed. A chamfered red brick fireplace survives on the west wall of the former garage.

The first and second floors each have a corridor running east and west from the stair landing and a high proportion of original half-glazed doors survive. The stair terminates at the first-floor landing and ascends again to the second floor, having a round-arched and scalloped surround to the stair window. The first-floor landing has a long 1930s radiator cover along its south wall, crafted of oak with a brass grille. The walls of the corridor are panelled and retain metal sconces and a 1930s dumb waiter in the south-east corner. The former service kitchen and pantry in the north-east corner were converted to a bathroom and ensuite in 2025. The room at the east end was formerly a dining room, and was converted to an ensuite bedroom in 2025 with a half-glazed door relocated from the neighbouring former pantry. The former dining room retains wall panelling and a 1930s fireplace with a panelled mantel and glazed-brick fire and hearth surrounds (similar to that in the first-floor bedroom in the 1930s extension). The windows on the south wall adjacent the external stair have vertical security bars. From the south-west corner of the former dining room and from the landing are original doors with original door furniture into a study. The ceiling in the study retains a moulded beam with carved floral bosses, and the walls are panelled (multi-phased) and retain six metal sconces and a service bell. The north-east corner of the study retains a brick fireplace with a wooden surround and hood (ornamental as no chimneystack). From the west wall of the study, double doors lead to a large drawing room, extended to the west in the mid-1930s. The large window on the south wall is framed by a panelled surround and flanked by fluted pilasters, with a long, panelled bench under the window. Either side of the window are oak radiator covers with brass grilles, similar to that on the first-floor landing. The wooden fireplace to the centre of the west wall is of a similar panelled design, flanked by fluted pilasters, and has a marble fire and hearth surround. The ceiling has plasterwork ornament of acorns and oak leaves, probably added around 1950. The bedroom at the west end of the first floor retains a wooden fire surround containing glazed bricks and with a glazed brick hearth surround (similar to that in the former dining room). The bathroom to the west of the stair retains a marble window sill and service bell on its east wall.

On the second floor there are four bedrooms, each with tongue and groove wall panelling to their south wall, and some cupboards in the eaves. There are a number of cupboards along the north side of the corridor, and all rooms retain half-glazed doors. A number of windows have marble sills, likely added in the 1930s. The bedroom at the east end of the house has a blocked fireplace. The principal bedroom on the south side of the 1930s extension has a wooden fire surround in its north-west corner (the fire opening is panelled over). Off the south-east corner of the principal bedroom, the canted turret on the south elevation provides access to an ensuite bathroom. The bedroom at the west end of the second floor retains a wooden fireplace and cast-iron grate in a tiled surround. A former toilet in the turret off the north side of the corridor was removed in 2025. There is no stair to the attic, it is accessed by hatches in the ceiling.

Sources

Websites
Flickr, 'Burefield', accessed 05 August 2025 from https://www.flickr.com/search/?text=Burefield
Broadland Memories, ‘1960s gallery’, accessed 05 August 2025 from https://www.broadlandmemories.co.uk/1960sgallery7.html

Other
25-inch Ordnance Survey map, revised in 1938 and published in 1941
Country Life, ‘Looking as good as old’, Vol 163, (16 February 1978), p398
1911 Census
1921 Substitute Census
1939 Register

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