Description

BOTUS FLEMING
SX 36 SE
5/4 Hatt House
23.1.68
GV II*
House. Probably circa late C16 or early C17 ; possibly earlier origins. In the
early C18, circa 1710, a new house was built, attached to the front of the old house.
Later C18 alterations and alterations of C19, after which there are few later
alterations. The early building is in slatestone and granite rubble; slate roof,
half-hipped to left, and with gable end front to the front wing. Stacks removed
except gable end front stack to the front wing; partly asbestos-slate-hung. The
early C18 building is in brick, in Flemish bond ; hipped slate roof with C19 crested
ridge tiles, stacks to sides with brick shafts and stack to rear right with brick
shaft.
Plan: The rear range is all that remains of the late C16 or early C17 house. It
consists of 2 rooms, and possibly a passage between. These 2 rooms would have been
aligned east/west, but the house is now oriented north/south, with the main front
facing east. The original orientation would have faced south, the left-hand room
being the hall, heated by a rear lateral stack, and the right hand room probably a
lower end room heated from a gable end stack to right. The original house must have
been larger than just two rooms, and the wing at the front of the putative hall is
probably an early C18 rebuild, as a kitchen, with an unheated dairy at the outer end.
The hall range was relegated to service use, the hall becoming the servant's hall
when, in the early C18, a large, square-on-plan house was built behind the lower end
of the original house. The new block's main front faces the garden to east, from
which point it is now described, with the early range forming the rear of the house.
There are 2 principal front rooms on the east front ; behind the larger left-hand
room is the butler's pantry and the stair hall. Behind the smaller right-hand room a
back parlour. Behind this is the later entrance hall, built after the main front
door leading into the left-hand room was blocked. There is a porch to the rear right
of the house. Subsidiary alterations include the addition of a porch to the front of
the early C18 kitchen range ; this shelters a pump. Probably in the late C17 or
early C18, a 2-storey porch and stair tower was added in the angle between the
original lower end and the early C18 kitchen ; this stair serves the main rear range.
There is a secondary service stair in the early C18 kitchen.
Exterior: The principal garden front is now the building of circa 1710. This is of 2
storeys and attic on plinth, a symmetrical 5-window front, with brick band course and
brick pilasters to sides; cornice breaks forward over the pilasters and has looped
and scalloped decoration, decorative cast iron rain water head and pipe to left and
right. 5 windows at ground and first floor, all 12-pane sashes of later C18 with
thin glazing bars in the original casing and openings with brick voussoirs; the
central window at ground floor has voussoirs wider than the head of the window, and
may have been the front door. 2 hipped dormers, each with 6-pane sash. At the right
side, 4 windows, with plinth, band course and cornice continued, to end right as a
parapet over the later C18 entrance hall. At first floor, all 12-pane sashes.
Ground floor has three 12-pane sashes, and to end right a recessed porch, with pair
of slender Doric columns, inner 6-panelled door with pilasters to sides and cornice.
The rear of the entrance hall is rendered and lined out, with plinth and band course;
ground floor right has 12-pane light with round head and Gothic glazing bars; first
floor has two 12-pane sashes. The rear of the main C18 range has a large 12-pane
sash with round head and Gothic glazing bars lighting the stair hall;small 9-pane
sash above lighting the attic landing. To right, there is the 2-storey lean-to which
contains the butler's pantry; this is rendered and has a large C20 3-light window at
ground floor and 9-pane sash at first floor.
The early range is at the left side of the C18 building. The kitchen is to left,
with the 2-storey porch/stair tower to centre and parlour wing projecting to front
right. The kitchen and dairy is rendered; at ground floor there is a pitched scantle
slate roof sheltering a pump dated 1871 with granite basin; outer ventilator door;
inner plain door. First floor has a wide 4-light window, formerly larger, with C20
glazing. The roof has a half-hip to the left end, and a bellcote with ogee lead roof
and weathervane and bell. The 2-storey porch has a hipped roof; 4-panelled door with
slate hood, at first floor a 2-light 12-pane casement with L hinges; partly asbestos
slate-hung. The parlour wing has a front gable end asbestos slate-hung, with
mounting steps and block attached. The inner side of the wing (to left) has 3-light
casement at ground floor with iron stanchions, C19 12-pane sash at first floor to
right, 4-pane C20 light at first floor right. The left end of the range is roughcast
at ground floor and slate-hung at first floor, with single light at ground floor to
right lighting the dairy. The rear of the early range has a straight joint between
the original hall and the rebuilt lower end; the roofs are separate, with the lower
end kitchen and dairy with 1 roof, the hall and the front parlour wing roofed
together. The hall has a 5-light 8-pane casement with L hinges, some rebuilding of
the wall below the window; 3-light casement with iron stanchions above. To the
right, the kitchen has a 4-light C20 casement, and the dairy has a 2-light casement;
C20 2-light casement at first floor.
Interior: of the C18 house: The front left room has complete fielded panelling, with
panelled shutters to windows; probably of late C18, at the time the front entrance
was closed. C20 fireplace and ceiling. The front right room has bolection-moulded
panelling with dado rail, moulded plaster cornice remaining, with marble chimneypiece
and early C19 scalloped pelmets to windows. Both rooms have 6-panelled fielded
doors. The stair hall has a open-well stair with turned balusters, swept moulded
wreathed handrail, rising to attic level. 2-panelled door to a cupboard under the
stairs. The rear right room is a parlour or study, with marble Adam-style
chimneypiece, cupboard to right and left. 6-panelled doors at first floor.
The early house: The original hall has a granite fireplace, with vestigial ogee with
roundel, large roll-moulding to the surround. C19 boiler to left. The ceiling has a
central circle of plasterwork, probably of the early C17, with fruit and leaves. The
hall chamber has an early C18 2-panelled door leading to the room over the kitchen
and a door to the front lateral corridor; there is no fireplace over the hall stack,
the room is heated from a fireplace at the lower end, using the flue from the kitchen
fireplace. There is one boxed principal rafter, which rises from floor level and
appears to be a cruck truss. The original lower end has one room at ground floor and
one at first floor, each heated by the stack at the front gable end; both fireplaces
are blocked. At first floor there is a C20 fireplace. On the inner wall at first
floor, there is a fine cupboard, circa 1710, with fluted shell back, shaped shelves
and original painted cherub's head with wings to each side and central painted shield
of arms; pilasters to side and lower shelves. There is a cupboard to the left of the
fireplace with 2-panelled door, and coat-hooks set on heart-shaped plates; the room
has a 2-panelled door. The storied porch/stair tower has a circa C18 winder stair;
2-panelled door to the porch chamber, unheated. The left end is the kitchen and
dairy; the kitchen has a wide fireplace (to the axial stack), now blocked, with 2
ovens to right with cast iron doors. Narrow-chamfered beams. To front left is boxed
winder stair. To end left is the dairy, partitioned in the middle with a ventilator
screen; slate floor and slate shelves. The room over the kitchen has beams with
narrow chamfers and run-out stops; blocked fireplace.
Roof: The roof over the kitchen and dairy is of later construction, probably of C19
when the bellcote was added. Of the early roof, there is only the concealed curved
principal in the chamber over the hall, which may be a cruck. There are 3 trusses
ove the lower right end, truncated, leaving only stubs exposed in the roof space.
One of the trusses has a cambered collar with a chamfered soffit. Hatt House retains
high quality features from the early phase and from the early C18. The fluted shell
cupboard is a very rare survival.

Listing NGR: SX3974462344

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17555682

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

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  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
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  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Old House Handbook 2 Books Bundle Collection (Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair,Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability)
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  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Renovating Old Houses: Bringing New Life to Vintage Homes (For Pros By Pros)