Outbuildings To North Of Freshwell House

The outbuildings to the north of Freshwell House represent a range of structures built and adapted over several centuries, from the mid-15th century through to the 19th century. They incorporate timber framing, plastering, weatherboarding, red brick, and peg-tile roofs. The front, or southeastern, elevation facing Freshwell Street connects with number 8 Freshwell House and exhibits timber framing with traces of ashlar lining, set against a flint panel and brick dwarf wall. The roof is peg-tiled with a hipped corner.

The southwestern elevation is a lengthy range divided into two sections. The southeastern unit, dating to the mid-19th century, is constructed of red brick in an irregular bond, with a hipped roof and a 19th-century boarded door. A more recent garage door fills an older doorway, while windows flank the ends with chamfered reveals. The northwestern unit has a slight forward projection, is taller, and is clad in 19th and 20th-century weatherboards, with a hipped roof and a catslide extending over a small flint and brick lean-to at the northwest end. A pair of large openings are present, one plain, and the other incorporating 19th-century jamb posts and upper braces above a carriage entrance, with pigeon boxes arranged in rows above.

The rear, or northwestern, end is weatherboarded with a hip roof extending down over the lean-to, alongside a doorway and flint and brick walling.

Internally, each unit reveals two distinct phases of timber construction. The southwestern unit (1a) contains a late 15th-century block, originally jettied towards the street and later underbuilt. Remains include a four-way braced crown post, tie-beam, and wall plates, with step-stopped chamfers, beneath a modern roof. The ground floor reveals blocked openings with square set mullion mortices suggesting former shop windows, with rebates indicating the presence of inward-lifting shutters. This unit is likely a cross-wing of a hall house, once sharing a hall with number 8 Freshwell House. Later timber framing of a slender primary braced form forms the upper rooms of number 8 Freshwell Street, projecting sideways into the outbuilding void. The northeastern unit (1b), dating to around 1800, is elm-framed with bolted knee braces supporting a tie-beam. It has brick flooring. The adjoining northeastern unit (2a) has boarded walls and a mid-15th-century axial joist with chamfers. Unit (2b), dating between 1525 and 1550, features robust studwork, exterior bracing, chamfered rails, and a halved and bridled scarf joint in the wall plate. It also has a flat-laid brick floor and a roof with wind braces and clasped side purlins that extend over the adjacent unit (2a).