Details
TL 72 NW
3/201
21.12.67
WETHERSFIELD
ROTTEN END
(west side)
Spice's Farmhouse,
(formerly listed as Spicer's)
GV
II*
House. C.1400, altered in C16 and C17. Timber framed, plastered, roofed with
handmade red clay tiles. 2-bay hall facing SE with C16 internal stack in left
bay, off centre. 2-bay parlour/solar crosswing to right, service end missing.
Mid-C16 2-bay extension to right, canting forward to form an obtuse angle with
the earlier part. Early C17 extension to rear of this junction, and C18/C19
single-storey lean-to extension in right rear angle, much altered in C20. Hall
block and early C17 rear extension of one storey with attics, remainder of 2
storeys. Ground floor, 4 C20 casements. First floor, 2 C20 casements and
another in gabled dormer. C20 door in gabled porch in right return wall. In
the left return wall the original twin service doorways with 3-centred arched
heads have been converted into C20 arched windows. The hall has jowled posts, a
blocked original front doorway with 3-centred arched head, edge-halved and
bridled scarfs in wallplates, crownpost roof with cross-quadrate crownpost and
steep arched bracing of thick section. The inserted stack leaves the original
cross-entry unobstructed; the lower part has been rebuilt in C18 brick, the
upper part is C16. The central tiebeam has been severed and a splint added
above it, shaped to form the Tudor head of a former fireplace. A smaller Tudor
head has been cut in the soffit of the tiebeam for some purpose unknown,
possibly for a former stair beside the stack. The mid-C16 inserted floor has
moulded axial and transverse beams and moulded joists, all with foliate carved
stops. The crosswing has an underbuilt jetty at the front, jowled posts, close
studding, diamond mortices and shutter grooves for unglazed windows at front,
rear and right side, and a crownpost roof with original hip at rear, of which
the central tiebeam, crownpost and collar-purlin are missing. The right
extension has jowled posts, close studding, a chamfered axial beam, plain joists
of horizontal section jointed at the angle formed by the plan, and a crownpost
roof with thin axial braces. Large wood-burning hearths back to back. The
early brick floor is a notable feature. The early C17 rear wing has an oak
panelled door of appropriate date, though probably introduced, and a clasped
purlin roof. This building development demonstrates the agricultural prosperity
of the C16, the enlargement of the 'high end' accommodation which is typical of
the period, and the equivalent decline of the 'low end' accommodation. RCHM
10.
Listing NGR: TL7308429493
