1-8, Fairfields

Fairfields comprises four pairs of semi-detached council houses, dated 1922 and designed by George J Skipper. They were built as part of an experiment in cheap house-building techniques for Thetford Rural District Council, similar to The Crescent at East Harling. The houses are constructed of clay lump with a pargetted render in a herringbone pattern, and have pantile roofs with plain bargeboards to the gable ends and overhanging eaves. A central axial stack rises from the ridge, topped with a small brick shaft.

The houses are arranged in a crescent shape. Each pair has a mirror-image plan, with the principal front rooms centrally positioned, a doorway to the left and right, and short wings extending to the back, with further small single-storey wings beyond.

The houses are single-storey with an attic. Their fronts are symmetrical. Each pair features a small central gable, containing a two-light casement with a timber drip shelf, and a laurel wreath carved in the apex (Nos 3 and 4 bear the initials "T.R.DC" for Thetford Rural District Council, and Nos 5 and 6 display the date 1922). Below, two and three-light casements are flanked by half-glazed doors, and simple flat-roofed wooden porches. Nos 3, 7 and 8 have larger, later 20th-century gabled porches, while Nos 1 to 6 have replacement casements with top-opening lights. Small square windows are located under the eaves above each doorway. The rear elevation features short gabled wings to the right and left, with single-storey gabled-ended wings below, and a central gable.

The interiors have not been inspected.

The design is documented in the Skipper Family Papers, Thetford Local Authority Housing sketchbook 36 in the RIBA Drawings Collection.