Aberdeen House

Aberdeen House, originally the White Hart Inn, dates from the early 16th century and is located on Churchgate Street in Soham. It was later converted into two shops in the 19th or early 20th century. The building began as an open hall with a floor and hearth inserted, likely in the late 16th or early 17th century. A rear range was added during the early 17th century, and the front elevation was remodelled in the 19th century. The structure is timber framed, with plaster rendering on the exterior and a steeply pitched cement tile roof topped by a ridge stack.

The front façade features three flush frame hung sash windows with twelve panes each. A 20th-century gabled oriel window sits above what was formerly a carriageway on the right-hand side. A doorcase dating to around 1840 has fluted pilasters and a dentil cornice. Late 19th or early 20th century architraves frame the two shop fronts. The rear range, dating to around 1630, is also timber framed and plaster rendered, comprising three bays, a narrower stair bay, and two storeys with an attic. It features later fenestration but retains its original doorcase and door with iron fittings.

Inside, much of the original timber framing is obscured, but three bays of the original crown-post roof remain. One crown-post is smoke blackened and has a plain, unmoulded head with bracing from the post to the collar purlin. Two other crown-posts have a single brace to the collar purlin and are not smoke blackened. There’s a vacant mortise in the final crown-post, suggesting the building once extended northwest. Rafters are halved and pegged at the apex and joined by collars, also halved and pegged. The rear range includes a newel staircase and two inglenook hearths. The group value of this building stems from its historic significance and architectural merit within the local environment.