Description

MORETONHAMPSTEAD FORD STREET (south side),
SX 7586
Moretonhampstead
8/134 Nos. 1, 3 and 5
-
23.8.55
GV II

Originally 1 house, later sub-divided into 2 tenements with shops on ground floor
and rooms above.
Circa late C16 or early C17, remodelled and sub-divided probably in early C19.
Pilastered light scantling timber-framing, granite chimney stacks truncated. Slate
roof covered in bitumen, with gabled end and gabled ended rear wing.
Original plan had a large room, probably the hall, to left and a smaller room to
right with another large room behind the right-hand room in a rear wing. The left-
hand room is heated from a large stack which backs on a through-passage to left,
and the right-hand room has a fireplace in a stack on the right-hand gable end.
The large rear room has a big fireplace in same wall. Above each of the ground
floor rooms is a heated room on the first and second floors except for the second
floor of the left-hand room which is unheated. At the back of the rear wing there
was a further 3-storey wing of which only the right-hand side wall survives with
fireplaces on each floor. The house was sub-divided into 2 probably in C19, with a
partitioned through the former hall, the left-hand room. Shops were inserted in
the front of the 2 rooms by underbuilding the jetty. Another room was added at
rear of the left-hand room, in the angle with the rear wing.
The facade is in 2 parts. Both 3 storeys, probably with raised eaves. No. 1, the
left-hand part: ground floor passageway to left with moulded granite corbel for
jetty above. Double-fronted C20 shop to right with two 6-light windows in
fascimile of Victorian shop front which it replaced. First and second floors above
slightly jettied out with one 2-light C19 casement with glazing bars on each floor.
Nos. 3 and 5, the right-hand part: ground floor late C19 double-fronted shop with
4-lights to left and 6 large panes to right, and 1 light to right-hand return.
Simple wooden shop fascia above. First floor has two C18 4-pane casements with
glazing bars. Second floor is jettied and has 3-light casement possibly of C18
origin but seems to be heavily restored.
Interior of No. 1: stack backing onto passage has large possibly hall fireplace
with monolithic granite jambs and chamfered granite lintel, left-hand jamb has worn
possibly pyramid stop. Moulded ceiling beam passes through later partition into
No. 3 and has ovolo and fillet moulding and step hollow stops with incised bar, the
joists have scratch moulded soffits. Head beam for plank and muntin screen between
former hall and passage now within the shop (former hall). Set back in passage a
lintel and left-hand jamb of doorframe with ovolo and fillet moulding. Doorway in
passage to former hall has 1 chamfered jamb of old doorframe. Fireplace in first
floor front room has granite jambs and wooden ovolo moulded lintel with butt stops.
Interior of Nos. 3 and 5 to right: ground storey ceiling beam through later
partition continues from No. 1, with ovolo and fillet moulding and hollow step
stops with incised bar. Also to front room fireplace on right-hand wall with ovolo
moulded timber lintel with hollow step stops with incised bar on moulded granite
corbels. Scratched on lintel "Richard Clampill 1692". Fireplace in rear room
with chamfered timber lintel with bar stops and granite jambs. Fireplace in room
above with ovolo and fillet moulded lintel. The first and second floor fireplaces
in front rooms have timber lintels and blocked with later grates. Only the
original north-west side wall survives of the far wing at rear which has a
fireplace on each floor with chamfered wooden lintels, ground floor large with bar
stops, first floor smaller and mutilated second floor smaller still and possibly
with bar stops. The ground floor fireplace might have been for the kitchen.
Roof over left-hand end of main range, No. 1, has raised eaves but retains at least
the front principal rafters which are halved and pegged into the wall posts.
This late C16 or early C17 town house is one of a pair of early town houses with
No. 17 The Square (q.v.). In spite of having been sub-divided in C19 it retains
many of its original interior features of high quality and the largely unaltered
C19 remodelled front is still jettied on the first floor making the building an
important feature in the centre of Moretonhampstead.

Listing NGR: SX7531786085

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26440316

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

• 
  Nottinghamshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of Historic Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Listed Buildings and Other Heritage Assets
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)