Medieval Merchant's House

Details

KING'S LYNN

TF6120SE KING STREET 610-1/7/71 (West side) 01/12/51 Nos.7 AND 9 Medieval Merchant's House

GV II*

House. Late C14 hall house, altered C15 and considerably since. L-plan, with hall range in the rear wing to north of courtyard. Brick with stone dressings. Plain tiled and slate roofs. 2-storey, 7-bay east facade to street of c1830. Yellow brick. Sash windows with glazing bars and gauged skewback arches. In third bay (from left) is a timber-framed passage to rear, the front with a timber lintel under a brick relieving arch, the rear with an arched, chamfered, C15 opening. Present entrance to No.9 in bay to north of passageway: panelled door in panelled reveals under a 6-vaned fanlight and a round arch. Gabled roof with internal gable-end stacks. Panelled door into No.7 opens from south-west end of passageway. Rear of front range is whitewashed over passage and to south. Window over passage and narrow windows over C19 outshut light No.7. Hall range remodelled C17 and C18 into a 2-storey, 5-bay elevation. Central panelled door of late C17: six-panelled and of plank construction inside; split overlight and gabled hood on brackets. Fenestration of late C18 sashes with glazing bars set within late C17 or early C18 flush frames. Stone jambs of original entrance remain in junction of front and rear ranges, formerly opening directly into west end of hall. Stone jambs of C15 dais window remain either side of 2 ground-floor west sashes. Gabled roof-line changes above these and is marked by a gabled dormer and a late C16 ridge stack on a stepped plinth. Attached to east end is a 2-storey, early C18 brick and slate addition with its 4-bay facade to the west. Late C18 sashes with glazing bars set within early C18 flush frames. Platband between storeys. Doorway to right under C20 sloping hood. Hipped roof. INTERIOR of No.9. Hall range is now 3 rooms at ground-floor level. Hall dais window with moulded stone jambs of late C14 type: keeled wave, bowtell and filleted wave. Immediately left is a cinquefoiled window with an ogee head and wave-moulded jambs. Large open fireplace at west end of this room is an insertion: stone jambs and renewed lintel. Chamfered bridging beams and rough-cut joists date from early C17 insertion of floor. Room to west of hall with complete late C17 large-framed bolection panelling and H-L hinges to door in south-east (to former hall) and north-east (to C17 passageway and staircase) corners. Panelled ante-room leads to ground-floor room of west addition: large-framed panelling of c1730 and a shouldered overmantel panel above inserted Greek key frieze. Inserted C17 passage runs past N side of former hall, cut from the former courtyard serving the south side of No.11, but still leaving 2 small courtyards in situ. Staircase is at north-west corner of passage: closed string, turned balusters, square newels and moulded handrail. Panelled dado. Front range to street with early C19 panelling and associated details. Room over former hall has large-framed early C18 panelling. Rooms west of this now constitute a late C20 flat, with corresponding details except for hollow chamfered jambs of 2 late C14 windows in former gable wall. Roof structures all replaced early C16. Main front roof: common rafters, 2 tiers butt purlins, collars on arched braces. 2 complete trusses survive, forming 3 bays, the rest are too altered to classify. Hall range roof of principals, collars, butt purlins and arched braces, some of latter replaced by cranked braces. Collars and principals are moulded. Inserted stacks interrupt truss system. INTERIOR of No.7 to south of carriageway entirely late C19, stripped out C20. An early example of the standard L-plan house favoured in King's Lynn from the Middle Ages to c1600. The lack of timber-framing is probably the result of remodelling in the C15 and C16, and it should not be assumed that this house is one of the earliest in Norfolk to be entirely of brick and stone construction.

Listing NGR: TF6162020096

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

384142

Legacy System:

LBS

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