Description

BRIDFORD
SX 88 NW
2/43
Weeke Barton
GV II
Former farmhouse. Mid C17, possibly a remodelling of an earlier huse, C20
renovations. Whitewashed rendered cob and stone ; slate roof, gabled at ends
(formerly thatched) ; end stacks, front lateral stack with tall granite ashlar
shaft, axial stack.
Plan: Unconventional and difficult to interpret ; an exceptionally long single-
depth range, 6 rooms wide, no existing cross or through passage. The 3 left hand
rooms and the right hand room are heated and there is a possibility that a detached
kitchen at the right end has been linked to a former 3 room and passage house at
the left, although this is far from being a satisfactory explanation of the
evolution of the building. The 3 left hand rooms each have a rear stair
projection, the right hand of the 3 has thick stone crosswalls and no main roof
truss. The extreme right hand room is a circa mid C17 kitchen with a massive,
well-preserved smoking chamber ; cross beams supporting the ground floor ceiling
are consistent in design throughout the range, with the exception of the room with
thick crosswalls, as is the jointed cruck roof construction as far as could be seen
at the time of survey (1987). An axial passage has been introduced to the rear of
the room with stone crosswalls and the extreme right hand room has been converted
to a cottage with a long lean-to added at the front which extends across the front
of the adjacent room.
Exterior: Asymmetrical 8 window front with 7 gabled dormers, the right end dormer
altered in the late C20 : gabled porch to left of centre adjacent to front lateral
stack (possibly site of front door to former passage ?), long, C20 lean-to at right
end with late C20 front door, garage and service room to cottage at right (former
C17 kitchen). The rear elevation has the smoking chamber projection at rear right,
2 small stair turrets with catslide roofs and a rear left stair wing.
Windows with C20 glazing with timber glazing bars except some late C20 replacements
aluminium to the right.
Interior: Chamfered step-stopped crossbeams survive throughout the ground floor,
except for one room. The 2 left hand rooms have good granite fireplaces with
chamfered lintels and jambs. C17 newel stair to rear of left hand room rising to a
small stair landing with crank-headed timber doorframes to the 2 left hand rooms on
the first floor. The adjacent room has a stopped half-beam against the right hand
wall with an unexplained corbel arrangement below the beam; a chamfered arched oak
doorframe leads into the axial passage to the rear of the adjacent right hand room
which has a C20 fireplace, probably concealing earlier features, and a chamfered
axial beam with diagonal stops. The C17 kitchen, at the right end, has a massive
open fireplace, almost the complete width of the house, with a C19 bread oven and a
massive smoking chamber. The smoking chamber has a granite floor at first floor
level (now concealed) with a square hole in the centre. There is a framed
partition between the 2 right hand rooms on the first floor. The first floor room
second from left has a good granite chimneypiece with the remains of a mid C17
decorated plaster overmantel : on the opposite wall, a splayed slit window with a
timber frame appears to have been designed as a squint into an open hall.
Roof: Apex not accessible throughout at time of survey but side-pegged jointed
cruck trusses appear to survive throughout, the timbers above the left hand room
are not smoke-blackened.
An unusual large early house with many features of interest and others likely to be
concealed behind wall plaster. The apex of the roof over the centre of the range
could be of particular interest.

Listing NGR: SX8218087947

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26457067

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
• 
  Surrey (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Listed Buildings and Other Heritage Assets
• 
  Old House Care and Repair
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)