Description

SX 86 NW BROADHEMPSTON BROADHEMPSTON
2/58 The Monk's Retreat Inn
23.8.55
GV II
Inn, originally likely to have been church house. C16 with C17 modifications, circa
late C18 wing and considerable C20 alterations. Rendered rubble walls. Slate roof
hipped to left and half-hipped to right and to wing. Rendered stone stacks to right
gable end and lateral one to rear. Tall rendered brick shaft to left side of front
wing.
Plan much obscured by subsequent alterations, appears to have had 3 rooms on ground
floor with central entrance. 2 room wing with 1 heated room and central entrance
added at front of left-hand room in circa late C18. Plan much altered by C20
alterations for use as inn. At some stage the screen was moved to make the left-
hand room smaller. To the left-hand side the building incorporates the archway to
the church with a room above, which appears to be integral. First floor at present
in 2 flats.
2 storeys. Asymmetrical front with wide wing to centre which has 2-window facade.
First floor windows are C20 2-light metal frame casements, ground floor ones are
probably late C19 2-light casements with small panes. C19 4-panel door at centre of
the windows, top 2 panels glazed. Gabled porch hood above. To left-hand side
original house incorporates wide archway leading to church, with room above under
the same roofline as the house which is reached by a first floor door and external
wooden steps. To left of door is C19 2-light stone mullion window with arched
lights. To right of wing is small C20 2-storey addition in the angle with the
original front. At the rear the central section of the building projects slightly
incorporating the lateral chimney. To the right is a first floor door reached by
C20 wooden steps. The archway to the right has a segmental arch with C19 2-light
stone mullion and transomed window with leaded panes. Inside the archway are 3
blocked doorways, 2 of which have chamfered and stopped lintels.
Interior: the wing is 1 room and has a fireplace with segmental stone arch. The
room behind has a good quality C16 beamed ceiling with 2 heavy cross beams,
chamfered with hollow step stops. The original joists survive also chamfered with
hollow step stops. That the room was originally wider is shown by the continuation
of the joists through the screen to a richly moulded beam (chamfered on the opposite
side) at which they are stopped. The plank and muntin screen has roll moulding to
the muntins and the head beam above each plank. At left hand end is probably the
blocked original doorway with very depressed 4-centred arched head but now blocked
by planks with a similar muntin to the others above and below the doorhead, forming
a cross. The fireplace at the rear of the room has been totally rebuilt. Adjoining
it is reputed to be a blocked newel staircase and this theory is supported by a
narrow C16 round-headed arched wooden door frame above on the first floor likely to
have been a stair doorway. On the ground floor in the room now used as a cellar is
a similar wider doorway, originally the front door to the building. Roof space
inaccessible at time of survey.
This was once a high quality C16 building which retains several interesting features
despite considerable alteration.

Listing NGR: SX8015166288

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26389602

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

• 
  Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects, Supplement 2014
• 
  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The Victorian House Manual (2nd Edition): How They Were Built, Improvements & Refurbishment, Solutions to All Common Defects - Includes Relevant ... ... Properties (Haynes Manual) (Haynes Manuals)
• 
  Staffordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)