Description

This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 7 July 2023 to correct the grade and address and to reformat the text to current standards

TQ 54 NE
5/190

HILDENBOROUGH
LEIGH ROAD
Spring House

(formerly listed as Spring House, POWDER MILL LANE, previously listed as Meopham Bank Cottages)

20.10.54

GV
II*
House. Circa late C15/early C16 origins, remodelled and partly rebuilt in the circa early C17, some late C20 alterations. Framed construction, the ground floor partly underbuilt and nogged with brick, the rear elevation of the main block tile-hung to the first floor. Framed wing on a ragstone rubble plinth, underbuilt in brick and tile-hung to the first floor; peg-tile roof;' brick stack.

Plan and Development: the house faces east and is set back from the road. The main block, which has a rear outshut, is three bays with a crosswing at the south end. It began as a late medieval three-room and cross passage house, higher end to the north, with an open hall and storeyed ends, the higher end jettied on the north. The hall was floored in the circa early C17 with an axial stack inserted in the cross passage with back-to-back fireplaces heating the old hall and the new crosswing, which replaced the medieval lower end. The crosswing, with a C17 oriel window to the east and an unheated service room to the west, may have functioned as a parlour wing with the old hall re-used as the kitchen although the moulded fireplace lintel to the inserted stack in the hall suggests a superior status. The position of the C17 entrance is unclear as the inserted stack blocks the old passage and does not appear to leave enough room for a lobby entrance. The present entrance is through a passage created by dismantling the crosswing fireplace in the late C20. The house was divided into two cottages by 1952 (old list description) but is now one house.

Exterior: two storey main block; south wing two storeys and attic. Asymmetrical 1:1 window front, the east end of the crosswing to the left with one window only to the main block. The larger, left hand bay of the main block preserves exposed tension braces of large scantling. The main block roof is hipped and gabletted at the right end, the crosswing roof is half-hipped to the front; axial stack with staggered shafts with moulded cornices. Original early C17 oriel windows to he ground and first floor of the crosswing, coved out with ovolo-moulded oak mullions, five-light to the ground floor, four-light to the first floor with a two-light attic window. The crosswing also preserves C17 windows on the left return: two three-light ovolo-moulded mullioned windows to the east (the first floor window blocked externally) and a first floor three-light window with chamfered mullions to the west. The main block has two three-light casements to the centre bay, the ground floor window probably C18. C20 tile-hung lean-to porch. The right hand bay of the main block preserves its ground floor framing and the underbuilt jetty is visible on the right return. The roof is carried down as a catslide to the rear outshut; late C20 conservatory addition to the rear.

Interior: rich in early carpentry. Exposed ceiling beams and joists to the ground floor rooms. The joists to the north end cell are late medieval but have mostly been re-set with trimmers for two former staircases. The centre ground floor room has C17 joists, some removed, and a partly-blocked C17 fireplace with one moulded stone jamb exposed and a moulded oak lintel. The crosswing is separately framed from the main block beyond a ceiling beam with redundant mortises for the joists of the late medieval service end. The crosswing sill on the south side is a re-used timber. The partition between the two rooms has been removed but the C17 doorframes to its former paired doors on the north side survive. A probably C18 dog-leg stair with a shaped finial to the newel post rises in the outshut to the rear of the axial stack, the balustrade in a rustic Chinese Chippendale style is probably early C19. On the first floor the steep oak stair to the attic is C17, the bottom step a solid timber baulk. Part of the frame of the medieval doorway survives.

Roof: the late medieval common rafter roof survives over the main range with a rough wattle and daub partition to the apex between the medieval open hall and storeyed north end. The roof, on jowled wall posts, is heavily sooted over the hall and the partition is sooted on the hall side. The rafter couples have halved collars and are not of massive scantling. One of the rafter couples close to the inserted stack has a single mortise for a brace on the soffit, this may be associated with smoke escape before the stack was built. The crosswing has a clasped purlin roof with re-used rafters.

A complex evolved house with an interesting medieval roof.

Listing NGR: TQ5665747240

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26567300

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

• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
• 
  Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East: Norwich and North-east v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
• 
  ENGLAND GUIDE TO POST WAR LISTED: A Guide to Post-war Listed Buildings