Description

BROADHEMBURY BROADHEMBURY
SY 10 SW

5/55 Theydon or Church Lane

GV II*

Estate house. Late medieval origins, remodelled in the circa early C17 and extended
later, possibly in the C18 or early C19, perhaps during the period when the house was
divided into 2 cottages. Creamwashed rendered cob and stone rubble; thatched roof
with a plain ridge, hipped at left end of the main block, gabled at the right end;
right end stack with a stone rubble shaft, stack at junction of the main block and
the south-west wing, stack to C18 or C19 addition.
Plan: Complex and extremely interesting historic plan form, approximately Z plan
overall: the main block facing north-east, a south-west wing at right angles and a
probably C18 or C19 addition adjoining the wing on the same axis as the main block.
The main block, 2 rooms wide, is the higher end of a late medieval open hall house
with unusually primitive carpentry to the roof construction. The lower end and
passage (formerly adjoining at the north-west) are missing but the medieval doorframe
from the passage into the higher end survives in situ as an external doorframe. The
hall was probably floored in the C17 with a stack added backing on to the passage
(now the end stack) and a winder stair added in the inner room. The south-west wing
may also be medieval in origin, it may have been unheated originally but some odd
features associated with the present stack, but apparently pre-dating it, suggest
that it may have had a smoke hood or a timber frame stack before the insertion of the
existing stack which has an C18 chimney-piece. A small 1-room plan extension leads
off the wing at right angles to it. The main block has a tiled outshut along the
front (north-east) wall and there is a thatched outshut along the south east side of
the wing, providing access between the wing and the main block. The principal
entrance is into the south-west end of the wing from the lane to the church. The
house was divided into 2 cottages at one time.
Exterior: Irregular and extremely picturesque, sited adjacent to the churchyard. 2
storeys. Asymmetrical 2 window entrance front, fronting the lane to the church and
made up of the end of the south-west wing and the side of the C18 or C19 addition.
C19 or C20 plank front door to the left with a thatched porch with timber lattice
sides. First floor window left is a probably C18 3-light casement retaining some
square leaded panes and old glass. Eaves thatch eyebrowed over first floor window
right which is a C20 casements with glazing bars. The left return has one 1-light
window and a 3-light C18 ground floor casement with some square leaded panes, old
glass and stanchions. To the left and set back, the rear elevation of the main block
has an early C19 gabled dormer with pierced curly bargeboards and a timber casement
with glazing bars, one similar ground floor casement. The left return of the main
block has a thatched porch to the former higher end entrance from the missing
passage: this retains its original medieval chamfered oak doorframe with a cranked
lintel pegged into the jambs. Deep eaves to the gable end with early C19 pierced
curly bargeboards. A single-storey outshut with a red pantile roof extends along the
north-east elevation (the front of the main block). The thatch on the south-east
side of the wing is swept down, almost to ground level, as a catslide over the
outshut.
Interior: Very unspoiled and rich in carpentry and other features of interest. The
main block has chamfered step-stopped crossbeams and exposed joists, the heated room
with an open fireplace with a chamfered lintel and a bread oven. There may
originally have been a stair in the north-west corner of the room where there is a
large cupboard with an early C18 door with one large welded panel. The unheated
room has a timber winder stair: the division between the 2 rooms rises as a closed
partition on the first floor, made up of slender poles with plaster between. In the
wing various timbers adjacent to the stack appear to be truncated by the chimney-
breast and, on the first floor, a sooted void next to the stack may be the remains of
a framed smoke hood. The ground floor room has a chamfered stopped crossbeam, a
substantial axial beam across half the room and some exposed joists. A C20 oak stair
rises in the corner, replacing a C19 stair. The C18 chimney-piece is unexpectedly
high quality Adam style.
Roof:. The main north-east facing block has a late medieval jointed cruck roof
construction, the right hand (north) cruck embedded in the end wall. The trusses are
of a very rustic character, the principal rafters slender and wainey with most of the
curve in the principals rather than the cruck feet, which appear to be halved on to
the rafters. The collars, also slender, appear to have halved rather that mortised
joints. The hip at the left end is partly renewed but the rafters are simply fixed
on to timber pads in the end wall. The roof has been altered to the rear of the
ridge and some of the purlins (formerly trenched) have been removed. No access to
the apex of the roof but fragments of sooted thatch are visible behind the lath and
plaster. The roof over the wing has been raised slightly, the timbers are probably
C18 or early C19, the ridge resting on a massive sooted timber block on the gable.
Substantial sooted timbers are visible in a void adjacent to the stack of the wing.
An exceptionally interesting evolved house on a small scale, in a crucial position in
the centre of an outstanding estate village and one of 8 closely-spaced medieval
houses in the village.

Listing NGR: ST1014304762

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17546721

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)
• 
  Staffordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
• 
  Gloucestershire 2: The Vale and The Forest of Dean: Vale and Forest of Dean Pt. 2 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  County Durham (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England) by Elizabeth Williamson Nikolaus Pevsner(1983-03-11)
• 
  Farrow & Ball How to Decorate: Transform your home with paint & paper