Description

TL 51 SW SHEERING THE STREET
(South Side),
3/12 Meadowcroft and Thatched
Cottage
GV II

Small hall house, C16, converted to 2 cottages in early C19, extended in C20.
Timber framed, plastered and weatherboarded, roof thatched. 2 bay hall aligned
approx. NE-SW with integral storeyed service end at SW, integral storeyed
parlour/solar end at NE. Inserted axial chimney stack immediately SW of middle
of hall, and inserted floor in hall, c.1600. External chimney stack at SW end,
early C19. Flat roofed, single storey extensions to NE, SE and SW, C20.
Weatherboarded dado, plastered above. Ground floor, 4 C19 cast iron casement
windows, boarded door with leaded light, 2 C20 fixed lights, one french window,
C20 fixed lights, one french window, C20. No first floor windows at front.
Half-hipped. Some framing exposed internally. Jowled storey posts, heavy
studding, curved tension bracing, outside studs where visible. Cambered central
tiebeam of hall with arched braces, undisturbed by insertion of chimney stack.
Original floor at NE end, consisting of lodged joists of horizontal section,
unchamfered, arranged longitudinally, raised approximately 30 cm above original
position. Inserted floor in hall consisting of plain chamfered axial beam with
step stops and plain chamfered joists with step stops, c.1600. Original
unglazed window at SW end above tiebeam, with 2 diamond mullions and rebate
for hinged shutter, blocked by external chimney, with C19 cast iron casement
to one side. Similar rebate at NE end indicates the former existence of a
similar window there. Some original floorboards. Another C19 cast iron
casement in inserted dormer in SE pitch of hall roof, early C17. Doorway from
hall into parlour in original position, and inserted doorway above contemporary
with the insertion of the floor in the hall. This small hall house is of
unusual interest, retaining its essential structure and many features of its
C19 conversion to cottages. The precise dating within the C16 may be confirmed
by further examination, but it may be about the middle, when the clasped purlin
roof construction was coming into use, but was still accompanied by unglazed
windows in the storeyed ends and the use of an open hearth in the hall,
superseded fairly soon afterwards by a chimney and an inserted floor and dormer
window.

Listing NGR: TL5087213963

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26405087

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

• 
  Renovating Old Houses: Bringing New Life to Vintage Homes (For Pros By Pros)
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects, Supplement 2014
• 
  Cork: City and County (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Warwickshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)