Description

This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 3 July 2023 to amend the name and address, and to reformat the text to current standards

TM 16 SE
6/76

DEBENHAM
GRACE CHURCH STREET
No.24 (The Merchant House)

(Formerly listed as Nos. 22 & 24)

12/1/73

GV
II

House. Late C14; parlour cell C15, largely reconstructed late C17. Renovated 1970's. Timber framed with smooth render. Pantiled roof, half-hipped to right with a gablet. Right gable end has a plinth of coursed flint rubble. This work extends under part of the house and may be the C12 foundations of St Mary of Grace church. Three-cell form with former open hall. Mainly reconstructed mullioned windows, the tall hall window moved slightly from its original position. Former shop window to right has boarded shutter. Lower window in right gable end has pent roof. Cross-entry has plank door dated 1694, brought from elsewhere. One raking dormer to left. Internal stack has plain axial shaft.

Interior. Medieval frame has reverse-curved braces. In rear wallplate a stop-splayed scarf joint with undersquinted and sallied butts and face pegs. Open truss retains head of C14 crown-post with thick four-way bracing; cruciform shaft of post is mid C20 (to original profile); the tie beam is a replacement re-using the old braces. Remainder of medieval roof largely intact, the half-hipped end a mid C20 reconstruction. Collar purlin has a stop-splayed scarf with square butts. Stack inserted into upper end of hall in early C16, replacing a timber flue: back-to-back fireplaces on ground floor. Inserted ceiling of same date has chamfered joists. Parlour has late C17 ceiling: heavy beam with nicked ogee stop-chamfers, small square joists. Service partition largely reconstructed. Two-centre arched doorway to rear, one of the blades original. Joists in service end are mostly mid C20 imports from a house in Colchester; they have stencilled quatrefoils and Tudor roses. Solid-tread stair at service end also brought from elsewhere.

Listing NGR: TM1722263268

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26572283

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

• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2
• 
  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)
• 
  For the Record
• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)