Description

SS 81 SE CRUWYS MORCHARD RUCKHAM LANE
2/93 East Ruckham
-
II
House, formerly farmhouse. Early C16 core, remodelled and extended in the circa mid
C17, some C18/early C19 refurbishment, renovations in progress at time of survey
(1986). Main range whitewashed and rendered stone with tiled roof (formerly
thatched) with sprocketted eaves ; 2 rear lateral stacks (1 projecting) with tall
brick shafts, lateral stack on opposite wall projects through roof of wing, axial
stack replaced with aluminium flue. The wing is rendered cob with a tiled roof
gabled at end and an axial (formerly end) stack with a brick shaft.
Plan: L plan, the oldest part of the building, the 1 room plan north/south wing,
contains the core of a late medieval open hall house which may originally have
extended further to the north or south. In the circa mid C17 the wing was remodelled
as a kitchen when the present west/east range was added, a 3 room single depth block
with a hall and parlour to the east (right) abutting the kitchen wing, the hall
heated from the projecting rear lateral stack and the parlour heated from a stack on
the right end wall. The C17 arrangement at the left end of this range is less clear;
at present it consists of a left end room heated from a rear lateral stack and an
entrance hall with the stairs against the rear wall. In the C18/early C19 the house
was refenestrated and refurbished. Externally this gave the main range an
approximately symemtrical appearance. A rear right former dairy, now under the same
roofline as the main east/west range appears to be a later addition in the outer
angle between the main range and kitchen wing.
2 storeys. 3 + 1 window south front with regular fenestration, the 3 left hand bays
symmetrical with a central front door with panelled reveals and a rectangular
fanlight; 16-pane sashes one missing at time of survey. Further right hand first
floor window is a C20 casement. The kitchen wing, at right angles to the main range
and projecting to the front has 3 C20 sashes in the gable end. The left (west)
return of the wing has a shallow brick buttress and 2 3-light small pane casements;
the east return has a modern door. The rear elevation of the main range has 1 first
floor probably C18 sliding sash, other windows are modern casements.
Interior The wing has a late medieval smoke blackened roof of side-pegged jointed
cruck construction between the stack at the south and a thick cross wall to the
north. Roofspace not fully accessible at time of survey but some rafters, one
jointed cruck truss and most of a diagonally-set ridge survive. There is some
evidence of an accidental fire in the C17 kitchen on the ground floor below but this
is unlikely to be the source of the smoke-blackening as the plaster on the chimney is
unsooted. The purlins project beyond the stack where the sooting fades out and the
stack may have been inserted on the site of a former partition. The roof extends for
about 2 metres beyond the stack ; it was formerly hipped but has been altered to a
gable. On the ground floor there is a massive open kitchen fireplace with a bread
oven and a rough lintel that extends almost the complete width of the room and over a
smoking chamber with a flue that is said to join the main stack. A very deeply
chamfered cross beam with scroll stops is charred in the centre and may be re-sited ;
replaced joists.
The main range has heavily-moulded bar-stopped cross beams throughout the hall and
parlour, which are divided by a stud partition of slender scantling. The hall
fireplace (plaster stripped off at time of survey) has C19 iron chimneypiece ; a
large plain timber lintel above is unlikely to be the C17 original. The parlour
fireplce, also open but with a metal flue, has a moulded C17 timber lintel. Joinery
from the late C18/early C19 refurbishment includes panelled doors and shutters. The
roof trusses in the main range are also side-pegged jointed crucks with collars lap-
dovetailed on to the principals which are mortised at the apex with a diagonally-set
ridge, purlins and rafters intact. Intermediate trusses of a later, probably late
C18, date are pegged and are presumably for additional support in each bay. There
is a closed truss approximately above the partition between hall and parlour.
Although the right end of the main range is'hipped above the former dairy at the
right end of the range, there is a vertical wall in the roofspace at the right end of
the range with a probably C16 arched 1-light timber window. It is not clear how this
relates to the parlour fireplace.
An evolved farmhouse with interior features of interest.

Listing NGR: SS8786611010

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26552304

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

• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Buildings of England)
• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)