Lundishes

Lundishes, on The Green at Blackmore, is a house and shop, now used as a house. It dates from the early 15th century and was substantially altered in the 17th century and late 18th century.

The building is timber-framed, plastered and weatherboarded, with an 18th-century brick facade of red brick laid in Flemish bond. The roof is covered in handmade red clay tiles. The main range faces south and comprises 3 bays, with a 17th-century stack positioned in the rear of the right bay. A 2-bay cross-wing projects to the right. A 20th-century single-storey lean-to extension occupies the left end, and a 20th-century boiler-house with a hipped roof stands to the rear of the stack.

The exterior is 2 storeys high. All windows are 20th-century casements. A 20th-century half-glazed door is set at the right end of the main range. Modern pargeting in traditional geometric patterns has been applied. The left gable and right side of the cross-wing are weatherboarded. The cross-wing projects forward at first-floor level (jettied), with exposed horizontal joists and 2 original plain brackets beneath. The upper part of the chimney stack has been rebuilt in the 20th century, from approximately 0.80 metres below eaves level. The left end of the main roof is hipped, with a gabled dormer set within the hip.

Interior features include jowled posts and heavy studding throughout. The left bay of the main range is much altered, with plain joists of reused timber. The central post of the partition between this bay and the hall retains mortices for an original partition now missing; evidence suggests this end was formerly a cross-wing projecting forwards, similar to the existing one. The partition at the left end of the hall displays flush curved bracing, peg-holes of large diameter indicating the former position of a fixed high-end bench, and an inserted and subsequently blocked doorway at the rear, with the present doorway positioned in front of the central post. An 18th-century partition near the right end, mostly of reused timber with primary straight bracing and handmade nails, separates the original cross-entry from the main part of the hall. A wide wood-burning hearth with 0.33-metre jambs is fitted with a reused mantel beam from a still wider hearth, chamfered with a mitred stop near the left end only. The original rear wall of the hall was raised to full 2-storey height in the 18th century, employing primary straight bracing and light studding. An 18th-century wood-burning hearth on the first floor has 0.23-metre jambs and a plain mantel beam.

The roof is of clasped purlin construction, with hardwood principals and reused smoke-blackened rafters from a medieval roof, probably belonging to the same building. Softwood rafters carry the front pitch over the brick facade. The cross-wing features a blocked doorway at the left end of the jettied elevation with a 3-centred arch head; pegging indicates the former presence of arched shop windows. One of two former twin service doorways survives intact with chamfered jambs and a 3-centred head; the other is blocked, though the chamfered girt marks its position. The studded partition between the bays was removed and rebuilt early in the building's history approximately one metre to the rear of its original position to enlarge the shop bay. Plain horizontal joists are framed around an original, now-blocked stair trap in the left rear corner. The right wall of the rear bay contains an unglazed window with 2 incomplete diamond mullions. The upper floor is undivided and open to the roof with exposed framing. The rear wall displays curved bracing trenched inside the studs; the other walls have bracing trenched outside the studs. An unglazed window in the right side of the rear bay retains a shutter rebate in the wallplate; 20th-century diamond mullions have been inserted. The wallplates are chamfered with step stops; near the rear ends they are scarfed, apparently with tenons and bridles, reinforced with iron plates.

The roof is almost complete crownpost construction. Some rafters in the left pitch of the rear bay have been severed, apparently for a former stack, and restored with matching reused timbers. All original rafters bear gauging holes. The central tie-beam is cambered and features one original arched brace; both are chamfered with step stops. A similar arched brace at the right is a 20th-century restoration. The crownpost is plain with curved braces down to the tie-beam. The collar-purlin is a single timber 7.90 metres long with 4 axial braces. Collars are complete.