Description

DUNSFORD

COLLABRIDGE HILL

SX 88 NW
6/48

Collabridge

II

House. Circa early C16 origins, C17 remodelling probably in 2 phases, late C20 rear
addition. Colourwashed rendered cob on stone rubble footings, thatched roof gabled
at ends; axial stack, right gable and projecting stack with bread oven, end stack to
C20 rear wing.
The late medieval plan was an open hall house of at least 2 rooms, lower end to the
right. A cob wall between the higher and lower ends and the design of the roof
suggests that there may have been 2 open hearths and therefore a late medieval
kitchen at the lower end and a hall at the higher end rather than the more common
arrangement of hall/kitchen combined. The lower end room was probably floored before
the hall with a right gable end stack inserted and a newel stair against the front
wall. At a later date the axial hall stack was inserted, backing on to the through
or cross passage. The present plan is 3 rooms and a passage with a late C20 kitchen
wing added to rear of lower end and an unheated inner room which is narrow and
contains a late C20 stair which replaces an earlier stair. A puzzling feature of the
plan is a rear doorway of the C17 into the inner room.
2 storeys. Irregular 4-window front with a C20 gabled porch with a tiled roof to
right of centre with a Caernarvon arched doorway to the passage; the jambs of the
doorway are replacements but the chamfered lintel is original. A 1-light 2-pane
window to the right of the doorway marks the former newel stair of the lower end;
other windows are 2- and 3-light casements, 2 and 3 panes per light. The rear left
doorway into the inner room has a rounded arch.
Interior The late medieval roof is smoke-blackened from end to end with sooted
rafters, battens and thatch. There has been some C20 replacement of the common
rafters, battens and medieval thatch over the left-hand (inner) end. The roof has
only 1 main truss; this is above the hall in front of the inserted stack and is a
jointed cruck truss with the collar mortised into the principals and a diagonally-set
threaded ridge. The existence of only one main truss suggests that the cob wall at
the left-hand end of the lower end room that projects into the roofspace originally
extended to the apex of the roof and functioned as a second truss - if this was the
case the heavy sooting of the lower end common rafters must have been the result of a
second open hearth. The lower end ground floor room has an open fireplace with 1
granite ashlar jamb and 1 jamb faced with granite in the late C20 (lintel replaced)
and an unchamfered cross beam. The hall fireplace is open but the lintel and jambs
are plastered over. During late C20 renovations a small unglazed shuttered window
was found on the first floor (right gable end) of the inner room, the window no
longer exists.
A particularly attractive example of an evolved house of the region.

Listing NGR: SX8048789742

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26509922

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Buildings of England)
• 
  County Durham (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England) by Elizabeth Williamson Nikolaus Pevsner(1983-03-11)
• 
  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Period Property Manual (New Ed)