Bottisham Place

Bottisham Place is a farmhouse demonstrating several phases of construction, with a range at the south end likely dating back to the 15th century and originally open to the roof. A 16th-century extension was added to the north, with further enlargement in the 17th century via a parallel passage range and a two-bay service wing. The main front on the south elevation was remodelled in the early 19th century.

The original three-bay plan with a cross-passage is largely intact, although one bay has been removed. The south front is timber-framed, encased in gault brick, and has a hipped tiled roof. It features three recessed sash windows with glazing bars, framed by clasping pilaster buttresses. A contemporary flat-roofed portico with slender fluted columns and an entablature shelters the panelled front door. The 16th-century extension, originally jettied on the side facing the High Street, is timber-framed and plaster-rendered. The jetty has been underbuilt, and the opposing wall has been bricked. A gabled roof incorporates the 17th-century passageway. There’s a rebuilt ridge stack, and a 17th-century gable end stack at the north end.

The rear wall includes a 16th-century window, probably reset, with a hollow-and-roll moulded mullion. The 17th-century service wing is timber-framed with a brick casing and a gabled tiled roof, lower than the 16th-century range. A single louvered window in the gable end is original, and a portable window with two fixed leaded lights is still used in that opening during winter.

The original hall has no exposed timber framing, but the 16th-century addition retains evidence of the High Street jetty and includes a ground floor room lined with early 18th-century panelling, a bolection moulded fireplace surround, and a first-floor room with mid-16th-century panelling, likely reset. A first-floor overmantel features five small linenfold panels and three panels carved with the heads of a man and woman within roundels, one bearing the date 1654. Another panel displays a shield carried by winged putti, within a floral surround. The initials “I.H.” likely refer to John Hasell (d.1572), whose family probably owned the house at that time. Within the 17th-century wing, the roof trusses are of raised tie-beam construction.