Summary

A former hall house originating in the late C15 or early C16 with later extensions.

Description

A former hall house originating in the late C15 or early C16 with later extensions.

MATERIALS: a timber-framed building with brick infill to the ground floor and tile hung on the first floor, with a tiled roof and brick chimneystacks.

PLAN: orientated N-S perpendicular to Loxwood Road, the original building had three cells: a wide central open hall, with ceiled service rooms to the S, and solar to the N. The main chimneystack was inserted on the wall between the hall and southern rooms, and the stair was inserted beneath the former solar.

There is an early C20 cross wing extension to the N, and a late C20 extension to the W. There are two porch-like structures on the E, one of which is now occupied by a WC.

EXTERIOR: the building consists of a main range with a hipped roof to the S end, adjoining the gabled cross wing to the N. Various types of brick are visible on the ground floor, and the timber frame is occasionally exposed. The building is fenestrated with irregular leaded casements. The front door is a ledge and plank construction with iron embellishments, and has bowed architrave timbers forming a rounded opening; it stands within a porch projecting from the elevation beneath a catslide roof. The WC projection has a hipped roof. The main chimneystack is at the southern hip, and the secondary stack stands at the junction between the early house and the cross-wing extension.

INTERIOR: much of the timber frame is exposed internally. There is evidence of various alterations, such as misaligned timbers and mortise holes, but it is largely complete and the structure is fully legible. In the southern room, originally for storage and services, the medieval ceiling joists survive, and there is evidence of the ladder hatch, now blocked. There is a large inglenook in the former open hall, with a bread oven on the S side, and on the N the incised graffiti ‘WC 1724’, likely to have been by William Child, an occupant at that time. There are apotropaic marks on the fireplace bressumer and on a beam in the frame of the opposite wall. In the same wall, the posts of the frame have mortise holes which are likely to relate to a former dining bench. In the northern cell of the original building are a stair compartment and a small fireplace. The stair turns through 90 degrees in the corner of the room and rises up the end (N) wall, and the structure, which survives beneath modern reinforcing treads and risers, is carried on two rails. The porch and WC contain reused historic timbers.

On the first floor there are two principal trusses with deep tie beams and braces, infilled to form divisions between the rooms; that to the N is cut to form a doorway into the first-floor room of the cross-wing extension. The bedroom in the former hall has a fireplace opening in the chimneybreast. In the attic the coupled rafters are heavily smoke-blackened.

The house has an excellent collection of historic doors, largely ledge and plank, with a variety of ironmongery including strap hinges and unusual latches. Historic floor timbers survive beneath modern reinforcements. Windows are mostly Crittal-style steel or timber-framed.

History

Pancake Cottage is likely to have been built in the late C15 or early C16, as a small, timber-framed hall house with service rooms and solar. It retains much of the medieval structural fabric and features related to its original form, such as the mortises for a bench fixed to the ‘high’ end of the hall, the diamond-shaped butts of window mullions, wattle and daub partitions in the loft, and smoke-blackened rafters.

A substantial chimneystack was added, and the open hall was ceiled to provide first-floor accommodation, probably in the late C16, as was the common pattern of development in the region. The insertion certainly was made prior to 1724, evidenced by graffiti incised into the bricks. The stair may be of a similar period; it survives, though is covered by a reinforcing structure.

In circa 1806 the house was subdivided into two cottages, and remained as such until well into the C20. Sales particulars of 1905 describe the picturesque pair, one with four rooms, the other with six. Not until 1964 is there proof that it had been returned to a single dwelling, when it was described as having three bedrooms, two reception rooms and a bathroom.

The first extension to the N appears to post-date 1912, as do the porch and WC, all of which first appear on the 1974 Ordnance Survey map. The kitchen extension to the W dates from the late C20, and the northern room was extended again in the early C21. The timber frame of the original building survives well; there have been a number of incisions to accommodate new openings, and occasional replacement of timber elements with brick.

Reasons for Listing

Pancake Cottage, a former hall house originating in the late C15 or early C16, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Architectural and historic interest: the structure of the late C15-early C16 hall house is clearly legible, and the subsequent phases of its evolution demonstrate the development of vernacular building traditions and modes of domestic occupation;
* Survival of historic fabric: the original timber frame, including the roof, is remarkably intact, as are the floor frame, chimneystack, and stair compartment from the late C16 phase of development;
* Plan form: the original layout of a central open hall between ceiled service rooms and solar, and the later inserted floor and chimneystack, are still legible;
* Interiors: the timber frame possesses a number of notable features, and the house has a rich collection of historic doors;
* Rarity: the relative rates of survival of hall houses are low, and such intact examples are unusual;
* Group value: with Hillgrove, a Grade II-listed C17 house, opposite.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q66477854

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

• 
  Sussex: East with Brighton and Hove (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Listed Buildings, Conservation Areas and Monuments
• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Worcestershire Revised Edition (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cumbria: Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)