The Emplins

The Emplins

House, formerly rectory house, dating from the mid to late 15th century. The building is a timber-framed structure with exposed framing and rendered wattle and daub infill, topped with plain tiled roofs. It follows the plan of an open hall with north and south crosswings. In the 16th century, an extension was added and a floor with a stack was inserted. A red brick ridge stack was later inserted into the cross-passage in the south crosswing, and an early to mid-16th century red brick projecting side stack with diagonally set shafts was added to the north crosswing. The original plan was that of a double-ended open hall house with extensive ranges of service and outbuildings to the south east, as shown on the 1601 Map of Gamlingay (now demolished).

The house is two storeys. The hall comprises three bays with close-set studs of substantial scantling; the south bay is structurally integrated with the south crosswing. Some windows have been inserted in the late 20th century, though the sill of one first-floor window remains visible on the west side.

The south crosswing has three bays. The first floor is jettied at the east end, with a jetty beam on joists carried on shaped brackets rising off fragments of four half-octagonal pilasters. A doorway in the east end leads to an original porch with a plank and muntin partition wall on the south side. The cross-passage contains four-centred hollow-moulded outer and inner archways in square heads with double-chamfered beams spanning across. A red brick stack inserted into the cross-passage has blocked its original route. At the west end, the original doorway site remains visible. The present entry is now on the west side in the north wall of the south crosswing, featuring a reset 16th-century door of three ridged planks. A two-light diamond mullion window is set in the west gable end, and the south side wall contains two windows, each of three segmental lights in a square head. The framing in this crosswing is similar to that of the hall range.

The north crosswing has two building periods. The two western bays are contemporary with the rest of the house, with exposed external framing, though the north wall has been substantially rebuilt in brick and the roof largely reconstructed with new rafters, except at the west end where the original truss with downward bracing remains. The first floor has an eight-light diamond mullion window with modern mullions and an original shutter groove. At the east end, the crosswing was extended by two further bays in the 16th century, with the new wall butted against the original. This extension is two storeys with a jettied first floor in the south side, joists carried on shaped brackets, and an ovolo mullion to a two-light window at first floor. Structural evidence at the east end suggests the wing has been curtailed.

Interior: The hall range contains an inserted floor with deep stop-chamfered main beams and back-to-back hearths. Reset linenfold panelling ornaments a ground-floor door, and broach stops embellish middle rails. The roof spans three bays with a central display truss in a clasped side purlin roof, where the purlin is jointed to the principal of the display truss. The principal rafters, purlins, and collars are hollow moulded, generally soot-blackened, with paired wind bracing. The south crosswing roof is structurally similar to the hall, with an original partition wall between the second and third bays running from ground floor to roof space. The tie beams are cambered and arch-braced.

The late-15th-century chamber in the north crosswing's first floor features wall paintings from around 1600, rendered in black lettering with Italianate ornament, grotesques, acanthus scrollwork, putti, and fanciful motifs depicting biblical texts. These paintings overlay earlier vermilion painting and remain on all four walls, though some were lost when the north wall was rebuilt. The adjacent chamber, added in the 16th century, also bears painted foliate motifs. A reset partition wall in the first chamber displays linenfold panelling.

The house served as the rectory and was leased by Merton College. In 1483 it was leased to Thomas Byrd, who probably built the present structure. A 1602 map held by Merton College depicts extensive ranges of farm and other buildings arranged round a courtyard, of which this house is the surviving element.