The VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE of BRECKLAND a Survey by the Breckland Society ©Text, Layout and Use of All Images in This Publication: the Breckland Society 2007

The VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE OF BRECKLAND A Survey by The Breckland Society ©Text, layout and use of all images in this publication: The Breckland Society 2007

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright holder.

Photographs were either taken from the public highway or, in cases where private access was required, with the permission of the householder. See inside back cover for picture credits.

Survey analysis by Dr Tom Williamson. Report compiled and edited by Anne Mason & James Parry. Proofing by Liz Dittner.

A Survey by The Breckland Society with analysis by Dr Tom Williamson of the University of East Anglia

2007 THE VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE OF BRECKLAND THE VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE OF BRECKLAND

Acknowledgements

It is no mean achievement for a small, relatively Squires, who bravely processed the many hundreds new organisation to take on an ambitious of recording forms and created a special database of community project designed to evaluate the the information they contained. Particular thanks traditional buildings of an area covering more than are due to Dr Tom Williamson of the University 300 square miles. Yet this is precisely what the of East Anglia; as one of the leading experts on Breckland Society embarked upon in August 2004, Breckland’s history and heritage, he kindly agreed thanks to a Heritage Lottery Fund grant awarded to analyse the project database and author the through the Local Heritage Initiative. That the main sections of this report. Its contents constitute Brecks Vernacular Architecture project has been a significant resource, one both of value to students such a success is testament to the enthusiasm of the subject and area, and of interest to those and commitment of all involved: thanks go to who live here. The Society was, in part, created the Brecks Countryside Project (now the Brecks out of concern that the character of the towns and Partnership), and William Wall of the Countryside villages in this unique part of England was being Agency, who were instrumental in helping the adversely affected by unsympathetic development. Society secure the grant in the first place; to the Our concerns remain very real, but we hope that project adviser, Anne Mason, who steadfastly and this report will go some way towards highlighting creatively steered the various project components what is important, and worth protecting, about the through to a most rewarding conclusion; and, vernacular buildings of the Norfolk and Suffolk most of all, to the teams of volunteers who gave Brecks. so willingly of their time to walk the streets and lanes of Breckland recording the modest buildings that are such an important part of our everyday environment. James Parry The Society is also grateful to the builders and Chairman craftsmen who led the series of building workshops The Breckland Society organised as part of the project, and to Teresa June 2007

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Contents

The Purpose and Nature of the Survey ...... 1

The Determinants of Architectural Character ...... 3

The Chronology of Breckland Buildings ...... 6

Building Materials ...... 9

Roofing Materials ...... 24

Other Construction Details ...... 27

The Future for Breckland’s Buildings ...... 32

Figures: Distribution Maps ...... 34

Appendix One: Background to the Project ...... 46

Appendix Two: Examples of Survey Materials ...... 50

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The Vernacular Architecture of Breckland A Survey by The Breckland Society

The Purpose and Nature of by W. G. Clarke, to mean the district the Survey of light sands, overlying chalk, which occupies much of south-western Norfolk HE FORM and structure of and north-western Suffolk. It is a Ta region or district’s buildings region of generally poor soils which lies perhaps contribute more to its sandwiched between the more fertile, distinctive visual character than any and more wooded, boulder clay plateau other feature, such as the shape of its to the east; and the level peat Fens, fields or its pattern of settlement. The which were only effectively drained in main aim of the survey was to discover the course of the 17th, 18th and 19th Above what was distinctive about the buildings centuries, to the west. Cottages at Beachamwell. of Breckland – using this term not in its modern administrative sense, but The survey was organised and carried in the way that it was first employed out by volunteers and was based

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exclusively on external examination: no behind Victorian brick façades. If the attempt was made to enter buildings to Breckland Society’s primary interest record aspects of their internal structure. had been in the history of houses and Although such an approach is a well- other buildings in the district, then the established one – its principles were approach adopted for the survey would laid down by the great architectural almost certainly have been inappropriate historian R. W. Brunskill in the 1960s and its results misleading: but it was and 70s – it is often treated with some not. The intention of the survey was to suspicion by modern students of evaluate what was typical of the local vernacular and domestic architecture, built environment, and this of necessity on the not unreasonable grounds that involved an emphasis on external external appearances can be misleading, features – roof shape, building materials, and that a very old building can lurk decorative features and the like. By within a more modern shell. The identifying characteristic elements and Below recent, exemplary, survey of the houses features, advice and encouragement Methwold: a chalk of New Buckenham – just outside the may in the future be directed towards house with flint on the main façade. Breckland district – by the Norfolk ensuring that new buildings replicate, Historic Buildings Group thus identified as far as possible, some of these, and a number of important timber-framed are thus more in harmony with their medieval buildings completely hidden surroundings.

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The Determinants of Architectural Character

The character of a region’s buildings arises from three main factors: the age range, and balance, of the housing stock; the kinds of building and roofing materials employed; and the particular traditions and fashions which have built up in an area over time, sometimes through regular and sustained contacts with neighbouring districts. In practice these three apparently distinct factors are anything but: they are interconnected but we can begin to understand it by and inter-dependent. For example, describing briefly the kinds of building the types of building materials found and roofing materials available locally, in a region is in part a function of what is known about the antiquity of Above the age of its buildings: in an area in the local housing stock, and changing Farmhouse in which there are few buildings surviving patterns of contact and communication Beachamwell.

from before c.1700, for example, over time – the latter important not only Below we would not expect to find much in terms of the availability of building The Lynford Hall evidence for timber-framing, for this materials, but also for the movement Estate plaque, on cottages in Mundford. form of construction had been almost of styles, fashions and ideas. We need, universally abandoned – at least however, to consider such matters for houses – by this date. Particular not simply as they affect or relate to details of decoration or construction Breckland as a whole, but also in terms which appear at first sight to be the result of local workshop traditions can also, in some cases, turn out on closer inspection to be a consequence of building chronology: they might have been current throughout England during a comparatively short period of time during which the area under investigation experienced a pronounced wave of building, the consequence of population expansion or economic vitality. The interpretation of local architectural character is thus complex,

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of how they impacted differentially chalk, and more widely in the surface within the region: for in reality, as we drift. It was extensively used in all shall see, there are subtle differences periods. In addition, small patches between the architectural legacies of boulder clay occur throughout the of different areas within Breckland, district, and these were widely exploited differences born of a complex interplay for making bricks and tiles. of geological, economic and social factors. But the region’s geology had another, less Below Typical Breckland direct, effect on the kinds of building building in Most of the distinctive features of materials available to local communities. Didlington, the Breckland landscape, including Its light, freely draining sandy and incorporating chalk, flint, brick and the character of its buildings, derive chalky soils were particularly attractive pantiles. – directly or indirectly – from its to early farmers, and as a result most of geology, which mainly consists of the woodland in the area was destroyed chalk overlain by sand. Chalk itself was by the start of the medieval period, used, throughout history, as a building and replaced by arable fields and open material: but more important was flint, heaths. The latter may have contributed which lies in distinct beds within the some useful construction materials

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– both heather and bracken can be medieval times, been a relatively poor used for thatch, although there are no and sparsely populated region. We need, certain references to the use of either however, to make a general distinction in local documents – but timber for between the interior of Breckland, and building was largely unavailable in the especially the areas around Thetford, immediate area and had to be brought where particularly acidic soils, formed into the district from elsewhere, either in deep sands, occupy much of the from the well-timbered claylands lying land surface; and the more peripheral to the east, or from further afield, via areas, along the Fen edge to the west, the Fen waterways. The Fens themselves and merging with the boulder clays to must once have provided a good source the east, where the soils are often more of thatch, in the form of reeds and saw fertile and calcareous. The interior was sedge, but – as we shall see – thatch is always more sparsely populated than now relatively rare in Breckland. From the peripheries: large areas here are the 18th century these same waterways still devoid of significant settlements, Above probably encouraged the relatively early and much of the landscape consisted, A typical Breckland landscape, near use of slate – a heavy yet fragile material, before the 20th century, of extensive Ickburgh. difficult to transport by land. areas of open heathland – replaced since the 1920s by wide expanses of The poor, acid character of its soils conifer plantations. In the course of has ensured that Breckland has, since the post-medieval period large tracts

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of this agriculturally marginal area date (54% and 38% respectively). A were acquired wholesale by extensive mere 8% were thought to be of 16th- landed estates who seem, as elsewhere and 17th-century construction: and in England, to have indulged in large- less than one per cent were considered scale schemes of land improvement: medieval. In spite of the obvious schemes which also had an impact on dangers of interpreting this evidence, the housing stock. it is clear that, in external form at least, the overwhelming bulk of Breckland The Chronology of Breckland buildings are of remarkably recent date Above A rare example of a Buildings medieval building in Breckland, at The surveyors attempted to estimate Gasthorpe. the approximate date of the buildings Right they recorded and, although external A typical 18th-century appearances can be misleading, some brick-built house in Foulden. patterns in the resulting data can be discerned. The overwhelming majority of buildings built before c.1900 were thought to be of 18th- or 19th-century

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– over 92%, according to the survey, by better-built structures. Both the attained their present form during the poverty of the local housing stock, and last three centuries. In this, Breckland the completeness with which it was contrasts markedly with most other replaced, seem from the evidence of the areas of East Anglia, and especially with survey to have been greatest in the core the claylands to the east, where large of Breckland, although even here some numbers of buildings of 16th- and 17th- buildings erected before c.1700 can century date, and a significant number be found. Not only were the majority with medieval origins, can be found. of early buildings probably poor, ramshackle affairs in this particularly This marked paucity of early buildings poverty-stricken area; in addition, is in large measure a consequence of the they were swept away with particular relative poverty of Breckland: houses thoroughness by large landed estates. Above 19th-century estate and other buildings were certainly built The general paucity of pre-18th century cottages at Culford. here in the period before 1700, in some buildings is, perhaps, the most striking numbers, but they were evidently too and distinctive aspect of Breckland’s poor and perhaps insubstantial to be architectural heritage. worth preserving and retaining into the modern period, and were replaced

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Right Timber-framed gable end in Worlington.

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Building Materials are no examples here of crucks, that is, buildings in which pairs of inclined Building materials probably contribute timbers sweep from floor to the apex more to regional character than any of the roof, supporting both walls and other aspect of vernacular architecture: roof. Instead, the body of the building not only the specific type of material and the roof were structurally distinct, used, or visible (brick, timber framing, although both were raised together, as stone etc.) but also the particular kinds a series of trusses defining a number of of stone, brick etc, employed, together bays, each truss comprising principal with how various materials were used posts, principal rafters, ties and collars in in combination. The overwhelming a variety of combinations. Between were majority of Breckland buildings are smaller members or studs which held the constructed of three main materials: panels of wattle and daub that formed brick, chalk, and flint. The character the wall itself. Styles of framing, and of a district’s vernacular buildings plans of houses, both underwent many also, however, derives in part from complex changes over the centuries the paucity or absence of particular and much of the variety we see in the forms of construction, and in the case countryside today is a consequence of of Breckland the most striking feature regional variations in the chronology of is the low number of timber-framed building, rather than a manifestation of houses. regional styles per se.

Timber Framing Within East Anglia, late medieval timber-framed buildings are most Before the later 17th century most numerous in districts to the south and houses in lowland England were built west of the rivers Lark and Gipping, of timber frames, infilled with wattle especially in the old textile areas along and daub. Even after this date timber the Stour and its tributaries, particularly framing continued to be sporadically in towns like Lavenham, Hadleigh, and employed, albeit in somewhat debased Sudbury, or in formerly industrialised form: in parts of Cambridgeshire into villages like Kersey. 16th- and 17th- the 19th century for farmworkers’ century timbered buildings are more cottages, for example. Norfolk and widely spread, across the boulder Suffolk have a wealth of timber-framed clay plateau which forms the centre buildings: indeed, this is perhaps the of East Anglia (many are rendered most striking feature of East Anglia’s and colour-washed, although their villages and small towns, and especially character is usually still recognisable those in the south of the region. East from the outside). The marked lack of Anglia falls firmly within the ‘box timber-framed buildings in Breckland frame’ province of England – there may in part reflect the fact that they

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are hidden behind rendering, or brick Bardwell and Coney Weston, and even a façades. But for the most part it is real Wealden house from Barton Mills. But – there simply are not many buildings the numbers of such buildings are small of this type. In all, a mere eleven were and, like those noted in this survey, recorded in the survey, and many of examples have generally been recorded these were located towards the margins on the edges of the region, especially of the region: nine where the sands give towards those districts of heavier clay way, in the east, to heavier clay soils soils where timber-framed buildings are Above (six in Thompson, one in East Harling common. A typical example and two in Ixworth Thorpe) and the of a timber-framed house, subsequently others in villages close to the Fen edge In part, the virtual absence of timber- rendered. (Mildenhall and Worlington). Other framed buildings simply reflects that Coney Weston. examples are certainly known, some more general paucity of buildings in hidden behind much later façades. the area erected before the late 17th Medieval crown-post roofs have thus century which we have already noted. been recorded in Ixworth, Bardwell and But not entirely, for a number of Culford, queen post roofs from Great buildings erected before the late 17th

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century were recorded by the survey well-timbered claylands, or beside the – nearly ninety in all – but instead of navigable waterways of the Fens – which being timber-framed (as they would is precisely where the handful of known have been on the claylands) these were timber-framed buildings are located. built of chalk or flint. The paucity of As is so often the case, the character timber-framed houses in Breckland is of a district’s buildings arises from the thus not simply a consequence of the complex interplay of a variety of factors. fact that few early buildings survive in the region. It is also a result of the Brick fact that most such buildings – or at least, those that have survived to the Brick is the most common building present – were built of other materials. material in Breckland, and houses built This was presumably due to the lack entirely or largely of this material are of good-quality timber (and hazel, for more or less evenly distributed across Above wattles) in this poorly wooded landscape the region. A variety of colours can A house of yellow brick in Northwold. of open arable and wide heathlands, be found, but bricks in a pale yellow and the costs involved in bringing this or cream colour are perhaps most in from elsewhere. Such costs were, of characteristic. This is a feature which course, lower where settlements were Breckland shares with Cambridgeshire located close to the well-wooded and and the Fens more than with the bulk

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Right Contrasting brickwork in Northwold.

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of Suffolk and Norfolk, where orange and many houses and outbuildings can and red bricks dominate the built be found built of red or orange-coloured environment, at least in the period brick. before the 19th century. The light colour, probably valued because of its Brick can be laid in a number of resemblance to stone, is the result of different ‘bonds’. This is the term given mixing the clay with lime, something to the way in which the ‘stretchers’ which was easily achieved in this district – the bricks laid lengthways, along the due to the ubiquity of chalk. Such bricks wall – and the ‘headers’ – those laid were only widely used in Norfolk and into the wall, binding its two faces Suffolk, and then mainly in the major together – are arranged. Early walls towns, following the spread of the rail have irregular bonds, of relatively thin network in the middle decades of the and usually fairly irregular bricks. As

19th century, something which brought bonds became more regular, in the Below increasingly alien forms of building course of the 17th century, the most A mixture of red and material, and ever more standardised common was ‘English bond’, in which orange brickwork in Foulden. kinds of construction, to all regions. there were alternate courses of headers This said, the dominance of light bricks and stretchers. Flemish bond – used in in the area should not be exaggerated, large mansions like Raynham Hall as

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early as the 1630s – gradually became skin, over other materials, such as chalk. more popular at vernacular level, Buildings in stretcher bond are widely generally supplanting English bond by and thinly scattered across the region, the 18th century, although continuing although again with a slight clustering in to be used into the 19th. In the Flemish the north-west. version each course has alternate headers and stretchers. Both bonds are well The dominance of Flemish bond in represented in Breckland, although Breckland reflects the fact that the Flemish bond is notably more common majority of brick buildings recorded (59% to 33%). Houses in Flemish bond by the surveyors appear to be relatively are widely and evenly scattered across recent (only 7%, as already noted, the region. Those in English bond, in were considered to be of 17th-century Above contrast, tend to be found towards the or earlier date). What is surprising, Example of bricks laid west, with a particular concentration perhaps, is the comparatively high in English bond. in the valley of the Wissey, around proportion in English bond. Although Foulden, Northwold and Whittington. relatively early buildings do tend to A number of other bonds can be found be clustered on the Fen edge, roughly in English vernacular buildings, but in the areas in which this bond is well only one is significantly present in this represented, a high proportion of the district – stretcher bond, in which all the buildings so constructed (65%) were bricks are laid lengthways, as stretchers, actually considered by surveyors to be with few or no headers (7% of recorded of ‘Victorian’ date. To some extent local brick building). This bond was usually traditions may have ensured that this employed where brick was a facing, or bond remained popular in the west (and

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in the Wissey valley in particular) until seems to have been a feature of poorer relatively late. buildings in the medieval and early modern periods, large unfired bricks, Clay Lump mortared together, were probably first used as late as the 1790s, possibly by an Clay lump or clay ‘bat’ is the name enterprising builder from Great Shelford given to large blocks of unfired clay in Cambridgeshire called Joseph Austin. and straw, usually measuring c.10 cm The technique spread through south by 30 cm. It is a classic East Anglian Cambridgeshire and adjacent areas of building material, found in particular Essex in the first two decades of the in central and southern Norfolk, north 19th century but may only have become Suffolk, and south Cambridgeshire, common in Norfolk and Suffolk after Above although its distribution also extends John Claudius Loudon published an Clay lump buildings are typically obscured intermittently into south Suffolk and account of it in his Encyclopaedia of by render and can be Essex. Lump is used for cottages, 1833. Certainly, in 1846 Charles Poppy difficult to discern. some farmhouses, farm buildings and reported that numerous houses and – in south Cambridgeshire especially cottages newly constructed of lump – for garden walls. Vulnerable to could be seen along the turnpike road damp, lump needs to be rendered (the modern A140) between Stonham in when employed externally. It is often Suffolk and Long Stratton in Norfolk. described as a ‘traditional’ material, but The technique, as McCann has argued, this is true only in the widest sense. almost certainly originated in the use of Although mud-walled construction unfired clay bricks for the nesting boxes

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in 18th-century dovecotes. Clay lump clay soils of mid and south Norfolk, continued to be employed sporadically where this material is widely used. into the 20th century: in Norfolk, some They should, perhaps, be interpreted early council houses were built of it. as representing the edge of the denser concentration of such buildings found Clay lump does not occur much in on the clay plateau. The real significance Above Breckland: only fifteen examples were of this ‘peripheral’ distribution, Detail of clay lump construction; note recorded by the survey. However, this however, is probably social and tenurial. the stone foundation, may be a serious underestimate: lump The essential to protect clay lump against is not durable as a material unless it is central core of Breckland was, as damp. made weatherproof, and some at least already noted, characterised by large of the buildings described as ‘rendered’ landed estates, and for the most part by surveyors are almost certainly built lump seems to have been a material of lump. Buildings unquestionably of more closely associated (at least for ‘lump’ construction are widely scattered, house and cottage construction) with although noticeably distributed towards small proprietors. The latter became the northern and eastern margins of more prominent towards the clays on the study area. Those to the east of the the east, and towards the Fens in the study area lie close to the margins of west, which is precisely where this Breckland proper, towards the boulder form of construction tends to be found.

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brick’ were judged to be Victorian in date. Many of the estate cottages erected Flint by large estates in the heart of Breckland in the late 19th and 20th century were Flint occurs throughout Breckland, built of this material. present both as beds in the underlying chalk (quarried since the Neolithic at Flint is used in a variety of ways. Grimes Graves and elsewhere) and also, Rough flints can be laid randomly, in many places, in the glacial drift on without courses: they can be laid in the surface. This ubiquity is reflected in rough courses; or they can be trimmed, its use as a building material throughout or carefully selected for shape, and the region, although there are subtle laid in regular courses. Of the three variations in the precise ways in which Below forms of construction, random rubble Flint gathered from it has been employed. It might be without clear courses was the form of the surface of fields at thought that flint is a rather archaic, construction most frequently noted by Lakenheath. primitive building material, but this is the surveyors, distributed fairly evenly emphatically not the case in across the region: around 80% of the Breckland. Over 53% of the buildings flint buildings recorded were of this recorded by the surveyors as being of type. Coursed flint was less common, ‘flint’, ‘brick and flint’, or ‘flint and and with a tendency to be found in

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Right Part of a terrace of flint houses in Brandon, once the centre of the flint- knapping industry.

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buildings lying towards the west of the of flint, those of ‘brick and flint’, and region. It is likely that this is mainly those of ‘flint and brick’. The distinction a consequence of geological factors. between the latter two categories is based Good-quality flint, in large nodules, on the relative quantities of each of the occurs in the chalk exposed close to the two materials, with the latter generally surface towards the west of the region, being those in which brick rubble was close to the Fen edge. Elsewhere, flint mixed with the flint: but in fact, even was usually obtained from the surface, those described as being simply of ‘flint’ often from the glacial drift, and thus generally have openings (doors and took the form of more irregular nodules windows) and often corners constructed or pebbles which were best used, not in brick. Buildings in flint and brick in courses, but in the form of random are mainly found towards the west of rubble. Not only is random rubble the district, with all but four examples Below Flint laid as random construction more common than regular lying west of a north-south line running rubble in Croxton or irregular courses. It also has a longer through the centre of Thetford. (although note the brick-built gable end). history, with buildings of medieval, Buildings of flint alone are rather more 16th- and 17th-century date being widely distributed, with in particular recorded by surveyors. Coursed flint, a cluster south west of Thetford: this in contrast, was recognised only on appears to be associated with farms and Georgian and later buildings. cottages erected by large landed estates in the 19th century. Buildings of ‘brick In addition, the survey distinguished and flint’, in contrast, are more widely between buildings constructed largely dispersed, with no obvious pattern.

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in the district. Although chalk is not as vulnerable to weathering as clay lump, Chalk such buildings were often rendered externally, often perhaps as much for Hard chalk, or ‘clunch’, provides reasons of fashion as practicality. Some Above a reasonably durable construction were also faced in brick – accounting for Exceptionally fine ‘chequerboard’ material. The survey made a distinction, some at least of the houses constructed brick/flintwork perhaps of questionable validity, between of stretcher bond which were recorded on a farmhouse in Shingham. houses constructed largely or entirely of by the surveyors. chalk, with brick used for corners and for openings (doors and windows); and Chalk underlies much of the Breckland those in which the two materials were district but houses built largely or more evenly combined. It is probable entirely of this material have a much that the survey underestimates, to some more restricted distribution – they extent, the numbers of chalk buildings occur in the west, close to the Fen edge.

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chalk underlies the entire region, clunch only outcrops – or lies close enough to the surface to be quarried – in a band along the Fen edge, and to a lesser extent in the western ends of the principal rivers draining across Breckland into the Fen basin. The date at which the material began to be employed on a significant scale is uncertain. Some of the oldest examples are probably of 17th- century date – especially in and around Left A restored chalk house the village of Hockwold – but most in Northwold. appear to be 18th- or 19th-century, with around 54% being classed as ‘Victorian’ Below A chalk barn in by the surveyors, and 46% as ‘Georgian’. Caldicote.

Buildings in which chalk is combined Carrstone with brick present, for the most part, a similar pattern. This particular Carrstone, an iron sandstone that distribution is easily explained. Although occurs beneath the chalk in a narrow

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band from Hunstanton to Downham laid in courses, or at least where larger Market, is used as a building stone in nodules were employed, this was only the extreme western part of the Brecks. practiced to any extent – once again – in Easily worked into smooth, square or villages along the edge of the Fens. rectangular blocks, it was quarried for use in estate buildings in particular. In this district, its most notable appearance Above is in estate cottages in Beachamwell, Carrstone cottages in Beachamwell. where small pieces of carrstone were used as a decorative facing material on Right, above Detail of carrstone. buildings otherwise constructed of flint or brick. Right, below Detail of galleting. One interesting feature, found on a minority of buildings in Breckland, is ‘galleting’: the practice of pushing fragments of carrstone or small flints into the mortar between the main blocks – a purely decorative technique. Probably because this could only be visually successful where flints were

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Left An excellent example of galleting on a house in Northwold.

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handful of examples were recorded by Roofing materials the survey, scattered across the south of the district. This is particularly Roofing materials also contribute striking given that, at least until the

Below considerably to the distinctive character great drainage improvements of the A section of the of Breckland’s landscape. Three main 18th and 19th century, reeds must have longest thatched materials are used in Breckland: slate, been abundant in the Fens, immediately terrace in England, at Weeting. tile and thatch, although the latter is to the west; and reed beds were also present only in very small quantities. clearly a feature of some of the valleys Bottom Thatched roof in of the major rivers draining through the Gasthorpe. Thatch region. The explanation for this paucity probably lies, once again, in the fact that Thatch is a common roofing material the overwhelming majority of buildings across much of East Anglia, but is in the district are of 18th-century or later curiously rare in Breckland: only a date: that is, they date from a time when the main alternatives to thatch – tile or slate – had become relatively cheap.

Some at least of the houses recorded in the survey which pre-date the 18th century, and which are now roofed with pantiles, were evidently originally roofed with thatch: one indication of this is the steep pitch of their roofs (thatch is not in itself waterproof: a steep pitch is required in order to ensure that droplets of water proceed smoothly downwards, dripping from reed to reed (or straw to straw). The paucity of thatched buildings in Breckland must thus be due in part to the systematic replacement of this material by tile in the course of the 18th and 19th centuries.

Thatch certainly seems to have been abandoned as a roofing material at an early date, for almost all the houses with thatched roofs recorded were classed as ‘Tudor’ or ‘Jacobean’ by the surveyors, with only a small minority considered

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‘Georgian’ (i.e., 18th century). No 19th- century examples were noted. This is in line with most other areas of East Anglia, where new buildings continued to be provided with thatched roofs into the early 18th century, but not thereafter.

Tiles

Tiled roofs occur throughout the district, spread more or less evenly. With few exceptions, these make use of the pantiles so typical of East Anglia, and of eastern England more generally, rather than the simple plain tiles which occur in areas to the west. These distinctive tiles have a section like a shallow ‘S’ and unlike ‘normal’ plain tiles they are not nailed or pegged into the roof battens, and are laid in such a way that each only overlaps one, rather than two, others. Pantiles were introduced into England from the Low Countries – the Dutch word ‘pan’ means ‘tile’. They were first imported into East Anglia in the late 17th century and were manufactured locally from the start of the 18th. An innovation of the mid-18th found throughout East Anglia. They are century was the glazed tile, usually black: most common in Norfolk and north-east glazing was mainly intended to protect Suffolk. the tile from frost cracking. Top Pantiled roof, They can be found across much of the replacing thatch, at Pantiles are absent from the Midlands Fens but they are virtually unknown from Lakenheath. and the west of England except, south-west Suffolk: their distribution falls Above rather curiously, for a marked pocket off markedly along a line drawn roughly Pantiled roof in in Somerset. But while tiles are a from Bury St Edmunds to Ipswich. Northwold. distinctive feature of East Anglia Breckland thus lies within the ‘pantile’ they are not confined to this region. zone. Pantiles continued to be used as a Their distribution extends, somewhat roofing material right through the19 th intermittently, right up the east coast century, and in some places into the as far as Northumberland. Nor are they 20th.

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earlier buildings, originally thatched, Slate to have been re-roofed at a later date with this material. Most of the slate Slate was first employed as a roofing roofs recorded by the surveyors (over material in East Anglia – at the level of two thirds) appear to be associated Above country houses – in the 18th century, with Victorian buildings; almost all the Slate roof in Mundford. but only became widely used on remainder were classed as ‘Georgian’. vernacular buildings in the course of Facing page, top the 19th century. There are, of course, Slate roofs are common throughout Roof of simple gabled form in Worlington. no sources of roofing slates in East Breckland but they display a slightly Anglia – the material has to be brought more structured distribution than tiled Facing page, middle Restored barn with long distances from the west of Britain roofs. Rather than being scattered fairly hipped roof in – and the weight and fragility of the evenly across the region, slate roofs Shingham. material meant that it was only in the are slightly more common in the west. Facing page, bottom late 18th century, with improvements Most of the examples recorded by the Victorian windows in water transport, that it became more surveyors (c.75%) were found within ten on a house in Oxborough. widespread, and only with the spread of kilometres of the Fen edge, with marked the railways that it became ubiquitous. clusters in villages actually lying beside The majority of slate roofs in Breckland the Fens (Feltwell, Lakenheath) or in occur on buildings dating, as we settlements like Icklingham lying slightly might expect, from the later 18th and inland, but on a navigable waterway. 19th centuries. In marked contrast to This clearly reflects the importance of pantiles, it seems to have been rare for water transport in the distribution of

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this bulky yet relatively fragile material. Away from this belt, slate roofs occur mainly on mid- to late 19th-century buildings, mostly erected by large estates.

Other Construction Details

Roof Form

The roofs of Breckland buildings are characterised as much by what is lacking as by what is present. The shaped or ‘Dutch’ gables which are a noteworthy feature of many vernacular houses in East Anglia, especially in the east of the region, are rarely found here. The overwhelming majority of roofs are of simple gabled form, with a substantial minority hipped, the two types seemingly distributed fairly evenly across the district, although with slightly different chronological distributions. Hipped roofs are mainly of 19th-century date, with some from the later 18th, whereas gable roofs occur in all periods. Indeed, whether hipped roofs can really be considered a ‘vernacular’ tradition in the region is doubtful. Other roof forms (flat, ‘M’- pitched, mansard) are rare, and none Openings: doors and windows have particularly striking distributions apart perhaps from mansard roofs. These The overwhelming majority of windows are clustered along the edge of the Fens, recorded by surveyors were of simple and represent the edge of a distribution rectangular or square shape, often based in Cambridgeshire. In short, with slightly arched lintels, with only Breckland roof forms are characterised a handful of rounded arches. The by simplicity, rather than complexity: small number of windows described simple gables are the norm. by surveyors as having mullions and/or

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pointed arches were all Victorian, rather built-up locations. Most houses, than genuine survivals from the time whatever their size, display relatively when such features were current – i.e. simple forms, often single rectangles the 16th and 17th centuries. Doors also in plan. Decorative brickwork is a took, for the most part, relatively simple noticeable feature of buildings across forms, with the overwhelming majority the district, with skilled bricklayers Facing page, top right Semi-detached (80%) having a simple square shape; using different coloured bricks laid in cottages in Croxton. only 10% of the buildings recorded, patterns (often in the form of diamonds mainly 18th- and 19th-century in date, or ‘diapers’). Chimneys, made of brick Facing page, lower right had arches of simple rounded form. because of its high resistance to heat, Decorative brickwork Again, almost all the ‘gothic’ forms – were often afforded decorative treatment on a gable end in with one possible medieval exception when resources and expertise allowed. Worlington. – were Victorian. The surrounds of doors and windows Facing page, left are usually relatively plain, with one Decorative bargeboards in Mundford Form and Decoration exception: brick quoining is common, and Santon and especially noticeable where flint Downham. Whether semi-detached, in a row, or or chalk buildings have openings with Below free-standing, the form of Breckland brick surrounds. A range of brick Terraces, such as this houses appears to be largely a function colours can be found, but bricks of example in Eriswell, are relatively unusual of size and status, and of location. pale yellow or cream colour are perhaps in Breckland. Larger and wealthier houses, and those particularly characteristic of the area, standing on the edge of or away from in part because of the age of the houses the principal towns and villages, are (bricks of this colour became popular more likely to be single and detached everywhere in the course of the 18th and than meaner dwellings in more densely 19th centuries) and in part because of

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the ease with which such bricks could be produced locally, thanks to the abundance of chalk.

Another type of decorative feature, albeit with a partly practical role, are carved wooden bargeboards, which give protection to the vulnerable uppermost bricks of a building (where roof and gable end wall meet) as well as providing embellishment. They can be found across the district, but are overwhelmingly restricted to 19th- century estate buildings. Similarly ornate porches also occur in such circumstances.

The survey findings leave little doubt that the most important factor determining the character of Breckland’s buildings is their age: this is a region Decorative plasterwork (‘pargeting’), overwhelmingly dominated by buildings common in some other parts of East of 18th- and 19th-century date. Mainly Anglia, is here virtually absent (only because of this, but also for the other a few examples were noted, in Coney reasons briefly explored in this report, Weston and Gasthorpe). thatch and timber framing – so common

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Right Decorative brickwork on a gable end in Northwold.

Facing page, top 20th-century alterations to an earlier building.

Facing page, bottom An example of ‘tumbling-in’ on a gable end in Hilborough.

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elsewhere in East Anglia – are rarely example. These will be mainly located seen here. Buildings of brick, flint or around growth points such as Thetford, chalk – or of some combination of these which is anticipated to be one of the materials – and with roofs of slate or fastest growing towns in the East of pantile – represent the classic Breckland England. vernacular style of architecture. The challenge facing the area’s local Above The Future for Breckland’s planning authorities is to ensure that The most secure future for Breckland Buildings the character of such new development buildings must surely constitutes an enhancement to the come from their continued use as Against a backdrop of rising property traditional architecture of the Brecks valued local amenities. values and the constant drive for rather than a neutral contribution or, increased economic growth, the first worse, a distraction. Design guidelines decade of the 21st century is already that reflect the character of older local proving to be a challenging one for the buildings are an essential tool in this traditional architecture of the Brecks. respect, alongside an awareness that it Demand for housing is particularly is the very “ordinariness” of traditional intense, with more than 11,600 new vernacular architecture that makes it not homes projected for the Breckland only significant but also vulnerable to District Council area by 2021, for unsympathetic change.

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The record to date is undeniably mixed. Examples of inappropriate and insensitive development remain too easy to find, and are often as much to do with problems over scale as with choice of material and design. One other area of concern is the continuing disappearance of traditional small farm buildings such as byres. Although an important historical component of the local architectural landscape, these chalk will continue to help blending buildings are often demolished as part new with old, and it is important that of development schemes focused on the skills required to work them remain the conversion to residential use of an part of the local builders’ repertoire. associated large barn. Only time will tell, but the challenge for However, there are grounds for cautious the coming years will be to ensure that optimism. The interest generated by the region’s new buildings are designed the Society’s vernacular buildings survey and built in such a way as to sit more has highlighted the fact that many comfortably with their older neighbours local people are deeply interested in the than has been achieved in the last few buildings around them, and concerned decades. Equally importantly, they about the character and appearance of need to pay respect to the centuries of Above the towns and villages in which they vernacular tradition that has shaped the The restoration of traditional buildings live. The increased use in new buildings architectural environment of the Brecks can be an alternative of traditional materials such as flint and today. to new build.

Left This newly-built chalk and pantile house in Northwold continues a fine vernacular tradition.

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Figure 1: Suggested dates of buildings recorded by the Survey • Medieval • Tudor • Jacobean • Georgian • Edwardian • Victorian

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Figure 2: Distribution of recorded timber-framed buildings • Timber-framed buildings

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Figure 3: Distribution of recorded brick buildings • Brick buildings

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Figure 4: Distribution of recorded clay lump buildings • Clay lump buildings

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Figure 5: Distribution of recorded buildings constructed of flint • Flint • Brick & Flint

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Figure 6: Distribution of recorded buildings built with random flint rubble • Random flint rubble buildings

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Figure 7: Distribution of recorded buildings with coursed flint • Regular coursed • Irregular coursed

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Figure 8: Distribution of recorded buildings with galleting • Galleting

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Figure 9: Distribution of recorded buildings constructed of chalk • Chalk • Brick & Chalk

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Figure 10: Distribution of recorded buildings with thatched roofs • Thatch

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Figure 11: Distribution of recorded buildings with tiled roofs • Tile

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Figure 12: Distribution of recorded slate-roofed buildings • Slate

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Appendix One: Background to the Vernacular Architecture of Breckland Project

In 2004, the Breckland Society was awarded a A standardised recording form was prepared Heritage Lottery Fund grant of £25,000 through and volunteers were instructed in its use on two the Local Heritage Initiative to study the vernacular training days held at Oak Lodge, High Lodge architecture of the Norfolk and Suffolk Brecks. Forest Centre, on 26th and 27th February, 2006.

The project, which was completed in 2007, had five components : The List of Villages and Their Surveyors 1 A survey of the vernacular architecture of Breckland, carried out by trained volunteers Barnham Peter Hicks

2 The compilation of an oral history archive Beachamwell Sue Pennell, Jenny Kirkham of interviews with craftspeople and owners of traditional buildings Becket End Andrew & Nadine Marrs

3 Five workshops in traditional building skills Bodney Maryann Turner for apprentices and re-trainers, hosted and led by experienced craftsmen Brandon Leigh Driver

4 An exhibition Bridgham Roy Burrell Cavenham Sue Whittley, Anne Mason 5 An illustrated report Cockley Cley Sue Whittley The Vernacular Architecture Survey Coney Weston James Parry, Isobel Hunter

The purpose of the survey was to record the Croxton Peter Hicks exterior of pre-1920s buildings whose construction included the traditional building materials of flint, Culford Sue Whittley, Anne Mason chalk, carrstone, clay lump and brick, and to list their distinctive features. Didlington Andrew & Nadine Marrs

East Harling James & Barbara Nelstrop

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East Wretham Andrés Hernández, Oxborough Barbara Pritchard Anne Mason Roudham Roy Burrell Elveden Teresa Squires Rushton Roy Burrell Eriswell Sue Whittley, Anne Mason Santon Martin & Phyllis Clark Euston Wendy Johnston Santon Downham Martin & Phyllis Clark Fakenham Magna Sue & Malcolm Whittley Sapiston Sue & Malcolm Whittley Feltwell Mark & Val Elwes Thetford Peter Lamb Foulden Andrew & Nadine Marrs Thompson Bronwen Tyler Gasthorpe James Parry, Isobel Hunter Tuddenham Sue Whittley, Anne Mason Hilborough Sue Whittley, Anne Mason Weeting Gerry & Alma Moore, Hockwold Mark & Eileen Powell The Weeting Society

Honington Sue & Malcolm Whittley By the end of the survey, almost 1,000 forms had Ickburgh Maryann Turner been returned, together with CDs of photographs. This was a wonderful achievement by the volunteer Icklingham Sue Whittley, Anne Mason surveyors, many of whom said that they had enjoyed the work, learnt new skills and become Illington Wendy Johnston much more observant.

Lakenheath Dr & Mrs Robert Baker Comments included :

Little London Tim & Jackie Elliott ‘Really interesting – would love to have had more time to spend on it.’ Jennie Baker. Methwold Liz Dittner, James Parry, Sue Whittley ‘We have thoroughly enjoyed doing the survey. We have seen places close up which we have never seen before Mildenhall Jean Barber, Ann Morgan . . . the vast majority of owners have been very co- operative and helpful.’ Nadine Marrs. Mundford Marie Newton

Northwold Tim & Jackie Elliott

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To promote traditional building skills to The Database apprentices and re-trainers, five free workshops were arranged with the help of skilled craftsmen The information from all the survey forms was and builders. entered on to a database by Teresa Squires. This formed the resource for the illustrated report. The Workshops

The Oral History Archive 1 Working with Chalk A J Hayward Restoration. Led by A J Hayward in Brandon. Volunteers attended a training day led by Sarah Housden, an expert in oral history interviewing. 2 The Making of Authentic Period Doors & They interviewed master craftsmen and builders Windows Cider House Joinery. Led by Nigel who work or have worked with the traditional Grounds, Hingham. Breckland materials of flint, chalk, clay lump, carrstone and brick. They also recorded the 3 Knapping Flint for Buildings Led by John experiences of those involved in maintaining and Lord, Gooderstone. renovating such buildings, whether as owners, tenants or workers. 4 Purpose-Made Bricks for Restoration and Conservation The Bulmer Brick and Tile The Workshops in Traditional Company. Led by Peter Minter, Sudbury. Building Skills 5 Working with Flint Hendry and Sons. Led by A major objective of the project was to raise W. Hendry, Foulsham. awareness among local architects and builders of the need to continue working with traditional Each workshop combined theory and practise and materials, thus ensuring the survival of the built the opportunity to visit sites to see work in progress heritage of Breckland. or recently completed.

Geoff Roberts, a builder from Northwold, where Once again, feedback was very positive. many buildings are constructed of flint and chalk, was very enthusiastic about the project: ‘I particularly enjoyed the flint workshop . . . especially with regards to smashing and splitting flint and where ‘Many of us grew up with these traditional materials best to knock them in order to get the best results . . . and it’s a shame to see them being used less and less in to finish the day we visited a flint quarry which was a recent years . . . in the past, all the builders around great opportunity to select the best flint and split them here knew how to construct and repair buildings and on site.’ Christopher Hurst. walls in local styles and materials. Today, very few can do it well and there is definitely a need to train young ‘The workshop was very much ‘hands-on’ which I builders in how to use chalk and flint.’ believe was essential . . . where else do you get to practise building a flint wall ?’ Ed Steed.

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‘The workshop was very well organised and useful of interest in these skills would threaten the . . . I got the chance to do exactly what I had hoped.’ conservation and restoration of the built heritage, Oliver Laws. English Heritage and The Construction Industries Training Board supported the formation of The ‘I . . . got the chance to make a brick from clay National Heritage Training Group. Simon Holmes . . . and learned the start and finish process of how a of the CITB provided helpful guidance and advice hand-made brick is made.’ Christopher Hurst. in the planning stages of the project workshops.

‘Many thanks for funding such useful courses.’ In November 2006, the Society was contacted Roger Farmer. by Clara Willett, Manager of a Heritage Lottery funded scheme to set up bursaries in traditional building skills. She came to see the doors and The Breckland Society would like to thank the windows workshop taking place and wrote individual craftsmen and builders for their co- afterwards : operation and their willingness to promote and pass on their skills. ‘I am very impressed by The Breckland Society’s achievements and your work holds an exemplary By a fortunate coincidence, the survival of standard for our own scheme to follow ...... I hope that traditional building skills was also the concern our scheme can continue to build on the marvellous of other organisations. Realising that the lack work that The Society has initiated.’

Learning traditional building skills at the Working with Chalk workshop.

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Appendix Two: Examples of Survey Materials

One of the most rewarding aspects of the Survey annotated their results with detailed diagrams, was the dedication and interest shown by the maps and further information. Examples appear volunteer surveyors. Many went beyond the call below. of duty and undertook additional research or

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Picture Credits

Maps Facing page 1: Artista; pages 34 – 45: Dr Tom Williamson.

Photographs Martin and Phyllis Clarke: page 29 (bottom left); Eastern Daily Press: page 49; Tim and Jackie Elliott: pages 12, 30; David Hennessy: pages 8, 10 (top), 14, 18, 19, 22 (top and middle), 24 (top left), 25 (top), 27 (top), 28, 29 (top right, bottom right), 32; Richard Hyde: pages 15, 16; Andrew and Nadine Marrs: pages 4, 6 (bottom), 13, 31 (top); James Parry: front cover, pages 1, 3, 5, 6 (top), 11, 17, 20, 21, 22 (bottom), 24 (bottom), 25 (bottom), 26, 27 (bottom), 29 (top left), 33; Sue Pennell: page 27 (middle); Sue Whittley: pages 7 (top), 23, 29, 31 (bottom).

Other material Peter Hicks; Andrew and Nadine Marrs; Sue Pennell; Mike Taylor: pages 50-56.

56 A SURVEY BY THE BRECKLAND SOCIETY The Breckland Society was set up in 2003 to encourage interest and research into the natural, built and social heritage of the Norfolk and Suffolk Brecks. It is a membership organisation which works to help protect the area and offers a range of activities to those who wish to see the special qualities of this unique part of England protected and enhanced.

In 2004 the Society was awarded a Heritage Lottery Fund grant of £25,000 through the Local Heritage Initiative for its Vernacular Architecture Project. This report is a summary of that project’s various components and results.

The Breckland Society The Hay Barn Hall Farm Barns Oxborough King’s Lynn Norfolk PE33 9PS Telephone 01366 328190 [email protected] www.brecsoc.org.uk