Description

BRADNINCH FORE STREET (west side),
ST 0004
Bradninch
12/28 NO. 52 (Comfort House)
-
5.4.66
GV II*
Substantial house. C15, enlarged and remodelled, 1681, for Isack Watts, wool
merchant, and his wife Mary. Cob, stone plinth, plastered, under wheat reed
thatched roof, hipped to right-hand end (and adjoining no. 50, Fore Street q.v., to
left-hand side). Formerly a 3-room, through-passage plan, the higher end (with
medieval smoke-blackened roof) to the right of the passage; the lower-end was
formerly a single unit but enlarged, with the addition of a rear wing in 1681,
along with the addition of a 2 storeyed central front porch and complete
refenestration. Right-hand end stack heats parlour; exterior rear lateral stack
heats hall; a further stack stands forward of the junction of the rear wing and
main range roof ridges. All have brick shafts and some of the brickwork looks C17.
2 storeys throughout.
Front: symmetrical, and to all appearances the work of 1681 (date and initials IW,
MW on porch). 4-window range with central porch. Porch, with gabled-end thatched
roof, bargeboarded, pendant in centre, and boarded gable (all C19); one 2-light
casement window above; open below with original chamfered bressumer resting on C20
circular posts. All the windows of the main range have 2 horizontal sliding 9-pane
sashes; those on the first floor are original and retain their crown glass; those
on the ground floor are careful C20 replicas. Heavy surrounds to all.
Rear: One single and one 3-light C20 casement windows with glazing bars above, C20
lean-to extensions below. Long lower-end wing; 3 casement windows to upper floor :
one of 2 lights with 8 leaded panes to one light, 4 to the other; one of 4 lights,
15 panes per light, the outer lights fixed; another of 2 lights, 3 panes per
light. Ground-floor with 2 doors and one 2-light window; one 2, and two 3-light
windows to end of wing, and remains of former end stack.
Interior: Hall with intersecting beams forming a grid of 4 squares, the beams with
combined cyma recta and concave moulding (damaged) and run-out stops; C18 semi-
circular headed ribbed recess with moulded surround; panelled internal shutters; 2
early-C18 wide fielded panel doors, one opening onto staircase with C18 (or
possibly earlier) treads and risers. Small chamfered cross beam to parlour. Room
to left of passage with 1 axial beam with cyma reversa moulding and run-out stops
with bar. C18 scratch moulded window-recess surround, and panelled door from
passage.
Roof: 6 bays; 3-bay medieval Hall with passage) and 1-bay parlour all with evidence
of smoke-blackening; 1 medieval truss has been replaced in the C17, principals
crossed and morticed at apex. Truss above passage (possibly an upper cruck),
lightly sooted to lower end, more heavily to upper, formerly closed, principals
with cranked collar, arched braces, yoke, side pegged and morticed, with small V-
notch for ridge piece; neighbouring truss of identical construction but with arched
brace missing, and never closed. Truss between hall and parlour, formerly closed,
with cranked collar, the blades simply crossed, morticed and side-pegged. Rafters
and much battening sooted over hall; ridge-piece lightly sooted over parlour. 1
C17 lower-end truss, principals crossed, halved and pegged at apex.

Listing NGR: ST0004404187

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17548249

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

• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  For the Record
• 
  Cumbria: Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability
• 
  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)