White Horses

WHITE HORSES

House, late medieval and 17th century, with 19th and 20th century alterations. Timber-framed and plastered with some exposed brickwork and tiled roof. Four bays with two internal chimney stacks and an external chimney stack on the north-east wall, dating to the 19th century. A small timber-framed building stands to the rear of the north-east end, dating to the 17th century or earlier. A stair tower and single-storey extension to the rear of the south-west end were added around 1961. The building is two storeys high. The ground floor has four 20th century metal casement windows and a 20th century door with an imitation 19th century hood. The roof is half-hipped at both ends. Diagonal shafts dating to around 1961 are present on both the south-west stack (two shafts) and the north-east stack (one shaft). Some framing is exposed internally, and the ceiling beams are stop-chamfered.

The original building was a late medieval hall house. In the 17th century, the walls were raised by approximately 1.5 metres and a clasped purlin roof was constructed, re-using some smoke-blackened medieval rafters. The original tiebeams are missing or severed, and little medieval structure remains; the building is effectively 17th century in its present form. In the 19th century, it was subdivided into three cottages with additional stacks, stairs, and floors. Around 1961, the cottages were recombined into a single house. Some original floorboards were covered with modern softwood planking.

The 1961 alterations have seriously compromised the building's historical authenticity. Building components of unknown provenance were introduced, and older styles inappropriate to the house were imitated. A four-centred doorhead from elsewhere was positioned over the south-west door in an historically impossible location. The south-west elevation has false framing and exposed modern brickwork imitating brick nogging, which is historically inappropriate (a genuine example exists at New Hall barn, High Roding). A rear stair tower was framed with re-used timber imitating older work but without regard to traditional construction or proportion. Diagonal shafts imitating early 17th century chimneys were built on 19th century stacks.

One upper front window (second from the south-west end) has been converted with three genuine ovolo mullions and a wrought iron casement from elsewhere, imitating a late 16th century window but crudely fitted. Another upper front window (at the south-west end) has imitation ovolo mullions with diamond glazing executed in obscured bathroom glass. The other two upper front windows are genuine late 17th or early 18th century hardwood frames, each with two fixed lights and one wrought iron casement, and may be authentic to the house; however, all saddle bars from the fixed lights are missing, and windows designed for rectangular panes have been converted to imitation diamond glazing. Further imitation diamond glazing has been inserted in 20th century patent metal casement windows. Some of these alterations could still be reversed.

The small kitchen or bakehouse to the rear of the north-east end is of historic interest.