Description

SX 86 NW BROADHEMPSTON BROADHEMPSTON 2/58 The Monk's Retreat Inn 23.8.55 GV II Inn, originally likely to have been church house. C16 with C17 modifications, circa late C18 wing and considerable C20 alterations. Rendered rubble walls. Slate roof hipped to left and half-hipped to right and to wing. Rendered stone stacks to right gable end and lateral one to rear. Tall rendered brick shaft to left side of front wing. Plan much obscured by subsequent alterations, appears to have had 3 rooms on ground floor with central entrance. 2 room wing with 1 heated room and central entrance added at front of left-hand room in circa late C18. Plan much altered by C20 alterations for use as inn. At some stage the screen was moved to make the left- hand room smaller. To the left-hand side the building incorporates the archway to the church with a room above, which appears to be integral. First floor at present in 2 flats. 2 storeys. Asymmetrical front with wide wing to centre which has 2-window facade. First floor windows are C20 2-light metal frame casements, ground floor ones are probably late C19 2-light casements with small panes. C19 4-panel door at centre of the windows, top 2 panels glazed. Gabled porch hood above. To left-hand side original house incorporates wide archway leading to church, with room above under the same roofline as the house which is reached by a first floor door and external wooden steps. To left of door is C19 2-light stone mullion window with arched lights. To right of wing is small C20 2-storey addition in the angle with the original front. At the rear the central section of the building projects slightly incorporating the lateral chimney. To the right is a first floor door reached by C20 wooden steps. The archway to the right has a segmental arch with C19 2-light stone mullion and transomed window with leaded panes. Inside the archway are 3 blocked doorways, 2 of which have chamfered and stopped lintels. Interior: the wing is 1 room and has a fireplace with segmental stone arch. The room behind has a good quality C16 beamed ceiling with 2 heavy cross beams, chamfered with hollow step stops. The original joists survive also chamfered with hollow step stops. That the room was originally wider is shown by the continuation of the joists through the screen to a richly moulded beam (chamfered on the opposite side) at which they are stopped. The plank and muntin screen has roll moulding to the muntins and the head beam above each plank. At left hand end is probably the blocked original doorway with very depressed 4-centred arched head but now blocked by planks with a similar muntin to the others above and below the doorhead, forming a cross. The fireplace at the rear of the room has been totally rebuilt. Adjoining it is reputed to be a blocked newel staircase and this theory is supported by a narrow C16 round-headed arched wooden door frame above on the first floor likely to have been a stair doorway. On the ground floor in the room now used as a cellar is a similar wider doorway, originally the front door to the building. Roof space inaccessible at time of survey. This was once a high quality C16 building which retains several interesting features despite considerable alteration.

Listing NGR: SX8015166288

External Links

• Wikidata Q26389602

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Recommended Books

• 
  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Department for Communities Listed Historic Buildings of Northern Ireland: Information Guide for the 2nd Survey of Historic Buildings
• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of Historic Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  ENGLAND GUIDE TO POST WAR LISTED: A Guide to Post-war Listed Buildings
• 
  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)