Summary

Gate piers and flanking wall, built in the mid- to late C18, walls rebuilt in the late C20.

Description

Gate piers and flanking wall, built in the mid- to late C18, walls rebuilt in the late C20.

MATERIALS: red brick piers and walls, with Coade stone finials to gate piers.

DESCRIPTION: the two square-plan gate piers are constructed of red brick, each surmounted by a carved Coade stone finial on a plain stone base, the bulbous urns having vine-trail decoration. The flanking walls are constructed of red brick laid in English bond with shallow stone coping and were reconstructed in the late C20. The rear (south-west) elevation of the north pier retains C18 brickwork. The flanking walls are attached to the north block of Swaffham Sixth Form Centre to the south-east (Grade II) and the brick screen wall and garden entrance of Oakleigh House to the north-west (Grade II*).

History

Swaffham’s significance in the Middle Ages stemmed from its position as a crossroads on main east-west and north-south routes, not for its position on a river. The market and two fairs were established by the mid-C13 on the triangular Market Place, bounded on the north side by the present Lynn Street. The marketplace was likely originally open to the church on the eastern side, but C17 development closed this off. The Shambles developed in the centre of the marketplace in the early post-medieval period. The late C18 was a period of some social importance for the town when it became at least locally fashionable; there had been a racecourse at Swaffham since the C17 and the Earl of Orford founded the Coursing Club in 1786. The Assembly Rooms were constructed between 1776 and 1778, and the south front was added in 1817. The overall impression of the town centre is mid- to late Georgian, but there is evidence of C16 and C17 work behind many frontages.

In 1724 Nicholas Hamond, Lord of the Manor of Swaffham, bequeathed £1000 in his will for the erection of a schoolhouse and instruction of 20 boys in reading, writing and arithmetic. Hamond’s Grammar School was erected in 1736 on the Campinglands, and a National School and teachers’ house were added in 1838. The school was transferred to 18 Market Place, a late-C18 house, in 1896. The attached 20 Market Place was built in the mid-C18 incorporating the remains of a mid- to late C17 crosswing to the rear; it was the premises of the Norwich and Swaffham (Days) Bank in the early C19, and was later adapted for use as the school headmaster’s house. A detached prefabricated gymnasium was constructed to the rear of 18 Market Place around 1900, and later became a woodwork room. A single-storey classroom block was constructed to the rear of 20 Market Place in 1900, and a two-storey classroom block was added to the south-west end in 1912; a kitchen and WC block was added to the south-west in the early to mid-C20. A new gymnasium was constructed at the west boundary of the site in 1931, with an art room and physics laboratory on its upper floor. 18 Market Place was extended to the rear in 1954 with the addition of a two-storey library. Hamond’s Grammar School merged with the Secondary Modern School on Brandon Road in 1977, and the buildings on Market Place were utilised as a Sixth Form Centre until 2009.  

Reasons for Listing

The gate piers and flanking walls to the north of 18 Market Place, built in the mid- to late C18 and rebuilt in the late C20, are listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* as the prominent and architecturally-distinguished entrance of a mid-C18 townhouse, enlivened by attractive classical detailing;
* for the quality materials and craftsmanship employed in their construction.

Historic interest:

* located within a significant historic townscape, the C18 gate piers and walls makes a notable contribution to the rich architectural character and historic evolution of the Market Place.

Group value:

* they are surrounded by many designated assets with which they have strong group value, including but not limited to Oakleigh House to the north (Grade II*), 18 Market Place and 20 Market Place to the south (Grade II), and a pair of gate piers to Whitsands Road (Grade II).

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26559692

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

• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Listed Buildings, Conservation Areas and Monuments
• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Buildings of England)
• 
  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Liverpool: Pevsner City Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)