Rotten timbers

[philpjuk100]

What a wonderful house!

 

[charlieworld]

Thank you.
You have to love a house like this though don't you? Constant work both inside and out, but feels wonderful when you make some progress and return some small part of it back to it's true form. After the attic, it's the staircase which has also been gven a liberal coating of white gloss. Arrgghhh!

 

[JoceAndChris]

Your house is so beautiful, thanks for sharing! More pics please!

 

[yamin]

Here here to more pics, your house is really beautiful. It has to be worth all the blood, sweat and tears that may have to go into it. Whereabouts is it? (In an interested, not stalking type way!!! :shock: )

 

[charlieworld]

Thanks everyone!
Am near Shrewsbury just on the Welsh border. Nice and quiet. Lots of tractors...
I think half the house either fell down or burnt down at some point as the one side has been rebuilt c19th to match the original which dates to c16th. Bit of a ramshackle old plae now, but I love it.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Owwww jealous! Is the back even bigger than the front?

Do you know what/who it was originally built for?

 

[yamin]

Gorgeous. It must have such a history - have you found out much about it?

 

[charlieworld]

The back is a little bigger yes. The lean to laundry conversion used to be the milking shed I believe.
There is very little known history. I've trawled the local library and internet and have found only brief mentions of the house with no clues as to it's origins or purpose. Any clues on where to look would be very welcome!
It has been the farm house in recent years.
The cottage in the picture is yet another project for "when I get a spare moment"!! It hasn't been lived in for 200 years and is absolutely gorgeous. (If you like mud floors)

 

[yamin]

What do the census returns tell you? It looks like quite a high value property - it must have been quite important when built.

 

[Penners]

It looks like quite a high value property - it must have been quite important when built.

Yes, but it surely wasn't all built at once. It looks as though it's probably been added-to a number of times.

 

[charlieworld]

The only reason I thought it had been rebuilt was that the main front door would have then been located on a corner of the house...... any clues welcome!

 

[AMc]

Thanks everyone!
Am near Shrewsbury just on the Welsh border. Nice and quiet. Lots of tractors...
I think half the house either fell down or burnt down at some point as the one side has been rebuilt c19th to match the original which dates to c16th. Bit of a ramshackle old plae now, but I love it.

We looked at a house in Catton, North Norwich which looked a bit similar. The original timber framed hall had been extended with a matching half to serve as servants quarters, kitchens and a ballroom in the 19th century. At some point in the 20th century the house had been divided in two with the original and extension separated. The ballroom was amazing, but not what you'd call cosy and we decided in the end we'd always be too envious of the next door neighbours in the 'proper' house

Edit - pictures here
http://www.oldcatton.com/archive/photo_archive/manor_house/manor_house.htm

 

[charlieworld]

Oh wow!! I don't think I could have stopped myself with a place like that!
Although in the dead of winter with rattling window panes, I do sometimes wonder what it would be like to like in a new WARM house! lol

 

[Matt Green]

I'm so happy that nobody has said the dreaded words "dry rot" yet!

I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.

for 'I', read: dry, sound, good quality timber.

 

[Schoolmarm]

Matt :lol: :lol:

 

[Gareth Hughes]

The only reason I thought it had been rebuilt was that the main front door would have then been located on a corner of the house...... any clues welcome!

Is the original back door directly opposite the front door? It looks a bit late for what I'm going to suggest to be the case, but it's possible the chimney behind the porch has been inserted into a screens passage at the lower end of a former open hall which stood on the site now occupied by the later (left hand) wing, which would make the surviving early wing to the right the former kitchen / pantry / buttery.

Alternatively, the porch and right hand wing are part of a transitional house in which there are two original lobby entrances, front and rear and both butting up against the chimney stack, and there was a wing to the left, since rebuilt, consisting of a ground-floor hall with chambers above. This was a form which became normal for the middling sort of house c.1600 (on average - earlier in the south, later in the north and west).

I doubt it ever consisted only of the porch and right hand wing.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Blimey. There goes Mr Hughes again. What's a screens passage? And what's a buttery? I want both!

 

[philpjuk100]

Blimey. There goes Mr Hughes again. What's a screens passage? And what's a buttery? I want both!

I think a visit to Gainborough old hall is needed!

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Joce, I believe a screens passage was to enable serving staff to enter a great hall from the kitchens in a medieaval house without being seen. I think it separated one end of the hall off.

As for a buttery, it had nothing to do with butter! It was a storeroom for the booze - the word having similar origins as bottle and butler!

I know this because when I was a feckless, long-haired layabout student at Nottingham, one of the Union bars was the Buttery Bar and I was once motivated enough to work out why!

Edit - just wiki'd buttery - apparently overtime it became a term for a more general food storeroom too.

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Blimey. There goes Mr Hughes again. What's a screens passage? And what's a buttery? I want both!

I think a visit to Gainborough old hall is needed!

Here are some lovely pics of that place - looks very interesting:

http://www.geograph.org.uk/search.php?i=3820769&page=1

And here is one of the great hall looking towards the Screens Passage. Maybe I wasn't right about it hiding the entrance of servants with dishes into the great hall. I'm sure a real expert will be along shortly (probably entering the forum via a cyber-screens passage!

Anyway - enough of passages. Just look up.... wow! :