Description

TL 6730 GREAT BARDFIELD HIGH STREET
(north-west side)
8/169 Gobions ( formerly
21.12.67 listed as Durham House)

GV II*

Wrongly shown on O.S. map as Durham House. House. C14, altered in C16 and C20.
Timber framed, plastered with exposed framing, roofed with handmade red clay
tiles. 3-bay hall facing SE, with C16 inserted stack in NE bay, and 3-bay
crosswing to right. The house follows the obtuse angle formed by the site, at
the corner of High Street and Bell Lane, and all original structural members
intersect at the same angle. External stack at left end, C19 internal stack in
rear bay of crosswing. 2-storey lean-to extension in rear angle, early Cl9,
completing the parallelogram plan, C20 single-storey gabled extension and C20
gabled porch to rear. 2 storeys. 3 C20 2-storey oriels with diamond-leaded
casements. Plain boarded door, blocked internally. Hipped gablet at right end
of main roof. Grouped diagonal shafts on main stack. Mortises in a post to the
right of the left oriel indicate that originally there was one full-height oriel
in this position, a little wider than the present one. The crosswing comprises
the service end, and has mutilated beams and plain joists of horizontal section.
In front of the stack there is a fragment of a plank and muntin screen, between
the former screens passage and the hall. A cambered tiebeam has a biblical text
in C16 white lettering on a black ground, 3 lines of text along the entire
length, in English but damaged and difficult to read. The hall retains an
incomplete ogee doorhead in the left end, now an external wall but formerly
leading to the parlour. In the same end wall there is curved saltire bracing
and some original daub, and in the rear wall of the hall there is triple display
bracing. The C16 inserted floor has a moulded axial beam with spiral-leaf
carving. The left internal truss of the hall has non-functional hammerbeams,
the ends carved with a male and female head, and arched braces to the tiebeam,
with spandrel-struts. Above ceiling level all the roof timbers are heavily
smoke-blackened. The roof is of crownpost construction, complete, with
crownposts on both internal tiebeams, moulded and cut to the same obtuse
parallelogram shape as the whole building, each with 2 down braces to the
tiebeam and 4 rising braces. (C.A. Hewett, English Historic Carpentry, 1980,
178-9 and 304, and E. Mercer, English Vernacular Houses, 1975, 116, 117, 119,
155). RCHM 23.

Listing NGR: TL6745430466

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17557341

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)
• 
  Yorkshire: York and the East Riding (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects, Supplement 2014
• 
  Cumbria: Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East: Norwich and North-east v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)