Old Tan

Old Tan is a house of late 15th and early 16th-century date, substantially altered in the 19th century. It is timber-framed and plastered with some exposed framing, roofed with handmade red plain tiles.

The building comprises a main range of 3 bays facing south-east, dating to the early 16th century, with a mid-16th-century stack in the left bay. To the left is a 2-bay crosswing of late 15th-century date, which survives from an earlier hall house and is marked by a structural break between it and the main range. Two 19th-century gabled wings have been added to the rear, with an 18th-century catslide extension between them. The building is 2 storeys throughout.

The external walls are timber-framed with the ground floor having 5 twentieth-century casements and the first floor 4 twentieth-century casements, plus a twentieth-century door. A full-length jetty runs across the front, with exposed joists on the main range; the jetty of the crosswing is lower and fully plastered. Below the jetty, some exposed framing survives, though mostly replacement studding; at the left corner of the crosswing, one half of a 4-centred doorhead is exposed both externally and internally. Empty mortices for missing braces are visible below the jetty. The roof is hipped at both ends, though it was rebuilt over the crosswing to align with the roof of the main range.

Four 19th-century chimney shafts in Tudor Revival style rise from truncated 16th-century octagonal shafts. In front of the stack is a sunk panel inscribed 'O.N.O. MDCCCLV' (dated 1855). Two similar 19th-century shafts stand on an external stack at the right end. The rear elevation is of red brick in Flemish bond. In the left return, heavy studding is exposed, including a curved tension brace trenched to the outside. Jowled posts occur in both the main range and crosswing.

Internally, the ground floor originally had two bays divided by a studded partition (between the right parlour bay and middle bay), which has been removed and replaced with a modern wall. In these bays are chamfered axial beams, unstopped, with plain joists of horizontal section jointed to them using soffit tenons with diminished haunches. Between the middle and fire bays is a chamfered binding beam with step stops; the wallposts supporting it are ledged and similarly chamfered and stopped.

The ground-floor hearth is of exceptional size, measuring 3.05 metres wide, with jambs 0.50 metre wide and a mitred mantel beam. It contains a small recess in front of the left jamb and a large recess inside the right jamb. The fireback is semi-circular and of stone, possibly a glacial erratic, and is cracked; it is a rare feature requiring special care. Grooves for sliding shutters run at front and back at both storeys.

In the rear wall, exposed within the lean-to extension, is a blocked doorway with a 4-centred head to the left of the main hearth. Heavy studding with Suffolk bracing and some wattle and daub infill are visible here. In the upper storey, a late 16th-century inserted window of early glazed type has 2 plain rectangular mullions and 3 diamond saddle bars.

The tiebeam and chamfered square crownpost between the middle and fire bays have been moved approximately 0.50 metre to the left to abut against the stack. The jowls and arched braces to it have been removed. The original axial brace to the crownpost has been re-used in the front pitch of the roof and replaced by a long straight brace. The original crownpost roof of the main range is otherwise intact, with arched axial braces approximately 25 millimetres thick.

The first-floor hearth has a 4-centred brick arch and chamfered jambs which include some stone, probably re-used, with mutilated lamb's tongue stops. The evidence suggests that the main range was originally built with a timber-framed chimney and cross-entry in the left bay, replaced by a brick stack with one hearth around 1550, and a first-floor hearth was inserted around 1600. The ground-floor hearth facing the earlier crosswing has a rebuilt brick arch, and the storey post above it has been severed.

The crosswing has an unusual plan, with a blocked doorway at the front left. In the binding beam are mortices and a triangular groove for a former partition with gaps at each end. Plain joists of horizontal section are jointed to the binding beam with unrefined soffit tenons. The left wallplate has an edge-halved and bridled scarf joint. One of 2 arched braces supports the cambered central tiebeam. The roof has been rebuilt in softwood.