Description

1060/9/19
13-JAN-86

ASTON TIRROLD
ASTON STREET
(West side)
TWITTEN

GV
II

House, formerly farmhouse, probably early C17 with later rebuildings and additions.

MATERIALS: Oak frame, partly encased in later brick, now painted; thatched roof.

PLAN: Broad middle bay, formerly an open hall but now floored over, with winder staircase and large inserted hearth and stack at southern end. Bay to south rebuilt early C18, with narrow later bay beyond. Large first-floor doorway in north end of hall, originally accessed by ladder and leading to produce storage area above northern bay; this was rebuilt in late C18 or early C19, and later extended further south. Modern rear extension to west.

EXTERIOR: Painted brick with some exposed framing. Irregular fenestration. One-and-a-half storey range to south has thatched hipped roof with ridge stack and eyebrow dormer. Main doorway is in single-storey section to right, which has half-hipped thatched roof.

INTERIORS: Main downstairs room (former hall) has large inserted brick hearth to left. Main spine beam in ceiling, inserted to form upper floor, is dated 1733. Smaller rooms in later bays to right and left. Winder staircase to rear of hall leads to first-floor chamber. Exposed structure of exceptionally tall roof with two sets of collars and purlins, the latter having empty mortices indicating re-used timber. Straight braces to collars and purlins. Evidence of smoke-blackening to timbers indicating original open hearth. Large doorway to north is part of original build, originally accessed by ladder from hall and probably giving access to produce storage area; this and scarf-joints to purlins indicate existence of former full-height bays to north and south, later rebuilt.

HISTORY: Analysis in 2010 suggests that Twitten was originally built in the early C17 - though re-using older timbers - as a three- or four-bay yeoman's house with a central open hall and a storage area for agricultural produce at first-floor level above the northern bay. At some point, possibly in 1733 (the date on the inserted spine beam) the hall was floored over and a large brick chimney stack inserted. The southern bay was rebuilt at around the same time, followed around the end of century by the northern bay. Later still, extensions were added at the extreme ends of the building, that to the north incorporating older timbers.

SOURCES: Alan Tierney/Picketts Historic Building Conservation, Historical Interpretation of Twitten, Aston Street, Aston Tirrold (2010).

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION: Twitten is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Architectural interest: an early C17 timber-framed former open hall house of an unusual type, with evidence of an original storage loft for agricultural produce.
* Group value: with other listed buildings in the historic core of the village.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26311979

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

• 
  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas
• 
  Hampshire: South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Huddersfield in 50 Buildings
• 
  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Hampshire: Winchester and the North (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)