Description

DEBENHAM HIGH STREET (east side)
TM 16 SE
6/81 No.1 (The Debenham
9/12/55 Gallery), Swiss Farm
Butchers, No.3
( formerly listed as
Premises immediately N.
of Angel Inn; Premises
30yds N. of Angel Inn)

GV II*

Art gallery, shop and house. In 3 main parts: (a) an early C15 Wealden-type
range parallel with the street (in 3 occupations); (b) a high quality early-
mid C16 rear wing (part of No.3); (c) a mid C16 cross-wing to north of the
earliest section (part of No.1). Timber framed, part plastered, part
roughcast-rendered. Some mid C20 pargetting to Water Lane. Plaintiled roof.
Cross-wing has decorative bargeboards. 2 storeys. Jetties to High Street are
underbuilt; continuous jetty to Water Lane. Fine early-mid C16 2-storey
porch: jettied upper floor with exposed studs and brick nogging; C19 scalloped
bargeboards with spike finial. Open 4-centred arch with leaf-carved
spandrels; original upper window with moulded mullions. Within the porch is
the C15 2-centre arched doorway with old plank door; the opposing doorway is
visible internally. To each side of the porch are late C19 projecting brick
shopfronts: 8-paned windows to left, smaller single-paned windows to right
with C19 hinged internal cross-slatted shutters; C20 doors. Casement windows
at first floor, those to No.3 with C18 square-leaded panes. To extreme right,
one bay of small-paned sash windows and a 6-panel door. Internal stack.
Return front to Water Lane has 2 mullioned windows at first floor, one
original, one of c.1600. North side of rear wing (b) (partly concealed by C17
addition) has exposed close studding and a jettied upper floor on original
brackets springing from carved buttress-shafts; rope-pattern carving on
bressummer. An original oriel window has carved sill and arched heads to the
lights; some early diamond-leaded glass. Interior. The Wealden range has a
2-bay former open hall: open truss has cambered tie beam with missing braces
supporting cross-quadrate crown-post with thick 4-way bracing at the head; the
roof timbers, heavily sooted, are largely intact. 2 4-centre arched doorways
from the cross-passage gave access to a shop (front) and service room (rear).
Embattled mid rail shows evidence for shop windows and a shop doorway adjacent
to the cross-entry. Massive ceiling joists with evidence for stairtrap at
rear. One bay of the 2-bay parlour end was lost when the adjacent Angel Inn
was built (qv. Item 6/82). Mid C16 inserted hall ceiling of very high
quality: richly-moulded cross-beams, ogee-moulded joists, moulded cornice.
Contemporary screen with moulded muntins. C16 stack inserted in upper bay of
hall. Rear wing (b) has a further moulded ceiling and moulded fireplace
lintol. Many blocked windows with moulded mullions, those on the south side
extending the full width of 2 bays. This range has a plain crown-post roof.
Both this and the Wealden range have many C16 and C17 doors with good original
ironwork. A particularly heavy door into porch chamber with 2 layers of
planking. North cross-wing (c) is in 4 bays, the front 3 of mid C16. Ceiling
of front bay has dragon beam and very heavy closely-spaced joists with remains
of red ochre colouring. Intact first floor studding, queen-post roof. For
drawings of frame, mouldings and interior photographs, see Mr T. Easton,
Bedfield Hall.

Listing NGR: TM1737163361

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17535331

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

• 
  Cork: City and County (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  London 3: North West: North West v. 3 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Staffordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Sussex: East with Brighton and Hove (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)