27 And 29, Bridge Street

House at 27 and 29 Bridge Street, Saffron Walden

A 15th-century timber-framed and plastered house, altered in the 16th century and enlarged in the 20th century. It is a Grade II* listed building of significant architectural interest as an example of a Wealden open hall house.

The building comprises two storeys and attics with a peg-tiled roof and rectangular plan. A rear full-length ground floor lean-to and large central red brick stack in the front roof apex are later additions. The front (east) elevation is jettied to the south and recessed to the north with integral roof. A brace extends from the jetty to the projecting eave-plate, with a projecting tie-beam and matching eave-brace from the jetty of No.31, confirming the Wealden form. Nos 27 and 29 occupy the service and hall units respectively. The elevation is plastered with old pargetting featuring decorative panels of zig-zag, basket and semicircle patterns. Jetty joists, brackets and eaves-braces are exposed.

The ground floor now sits below street level due to historical alterations to the street gradient. The front elevation contains 19th-century doors of six beaded panels, bay windows with three casements and return side casements with leaded panes, and a second similar window with slight projection on the original hall window site with slate roof. The first floor has two 3-light windows with leaded panes, one in each unit. All ground floor doors on the rear (west) elevation are fully glazed with glazing bars, including a French window with side lights (6x5 panes), double casement (4x3 panes), and doors (3x5 and similar). The first floor rear has a 2-casement window (4x2 panes). Three casement dormers in the attic have flat heads with 4x3 panes and one 4x4 pane.

The rear elevation underwent 20th-century restoration with replaced windows and a rebuilt ground floor lean-to in brick and rendered finish. The first floor retains timber and plastered construction. Roofs vary: peg-tiled over the hall (north), slate over the service unit (south), and plastic tiles on the lean-to. The south end has a 20th-century rebuilt lean-to extension with flat roof set above the footway, with a single plain first-floor window.

Internally, despite alterations, the original position of service partitions and doorways remain evident from stud mortices and wattle grooves. A cross-entry and street door were set under and overshot by the first-floor chamber. Remains of two service doors and a buttery/pantry division are visible, with an in-line rear door to a stair trap serving the upper chamber. A wide arched spere survives below the north edge of the jettied chamber with rectangular grooming in the frame for boarded infill. Framing above is tension-braced with wattle and daub infilling. Jetty joists are flat-laid and jointed by simple soffit tenons.

The hall principal tie-beam is off-centre towards the service end, with an exposed elegant chamfered arched brace visible at the rear. The brace shape continues round the truss by tie-beam and principal post fillets. A crown-post above (visible in the attic) is 2-way braced with simple step-stopped chamfers to the post. The collar purlin continues through the roof with a bridled scarf joint over the crown post; old mortices show the former site of accompanying bracing from plain partition crown-posts. The roof shows remarkably light sooting. The hall wall-plate at the rear has a long halved and bridled butted scarf joint and a long shutter rebate over the site of the original hall window.

Around 1550, the hall was divided horizontally by a first floor using flat-laid joists with step-stopped chamfers and diminished haunched soffit tenons. A brick stack was probably inserted at this time (now considerably rebuilt and blocked), supporting the inserted floor. On the ground floor, the stack sits within the central spere arch, with ground floor fireplaces facing both the hall and service area.

This is a relatively large and robust example of the Wealden-type houses found in Saffron Walden, characterised by minimally decorated architectural treatment.