Burnham House And Attached Walls

Burnham House and Attached Walls, King's Lynn

Burnham House is a single house built on a courtyard plan in the late 15th century, but divided into two dwellings at an early date and substantially remodelled around 1700. It now comprises two properties, Nos. 11 and 13 Nelson Street.

The building is constructed of red brick, partly rendered and colourwashed at ground-floor level, with plaintile roofs. The street front presents 2 storeys and a dormer attic across 9 irregular bays. A carriage entrance leads to a flanking lane via a passage with a straight-headed opening to the street and a 15th-century basket arch at the rear, whose north jamb is of ashlar.

Two ground-floor doorways are separated by 18th-century sashes with glazing bars. A platband marks the first floor. The first floor is lit by six early 18th-century two-light cross-casements and two further sashes. Three gabled dormers project from the gabled roof, though the northern dormer has since lost its gable.

The south side of the rear courtyard rises 2 storeys across 4 bays. A later lean-to covered passage obscures the lower left bay, leaving 3 two-light timber cross-casements to the ground floor and 4 to the first floor, all dating to around 1700. The upper windows retain leaded glazing and some iron casement catches. The gabled roof rises above.

The south gable-end contains three ground-floor openings: a door to the interior, a 3-light casement, and an outside cupboard door, all of 20th-century details including ground-floor brickwork. Above this rises a 16th-century timber 5-light mullioned and transomed window with leaded glazing, set in contemporary brickwork. Between this gable and the projecting wing to the north (part of No. 11) is a single-storey 19th-century link that recreates the original, though smaller, courtyard arrangement. The projecting wing has renewed fenestration to the courtyard and the line of a blocked first-floor window, with a gabled roof and 3 sloping dormers. The north side features a 5-light late 15th-century mullioned window under the eaves, lighting the stairwell. The south gable wall contains sashes of 1989.

Interior of No. 13

The street door discharges into a tunnel-vaulted passage of 18th-century origins, terminating in a winder staircase. The brickwork beneath is 15th-century. The ground-floor north room contains large-frame early 18th-century panelling and a doorway opening to the courtyard. This panelling is repeated in both front first-floor rooms. The rear wing features plank and muntin partitioning to the main first-floor room. A clasped purlin roof covers this wing, partly renewed in 1953.

Interior of No. 11

The street door leads via passageway to the courtyard, from which the house is entered by a door into a later single-storey link. The ground-floor front room contains re-used 17th-century small-frame panelling. The room immediately behind (the present kitchen) has large-frame panelling. The rear room features a mid-19th-century plain marble fire surround but a mid-18th-century plaster overmantel with scrolled side consoles. The mantelpiece rests on a pair of moulded consoles between which is a wood applique frieze of foliage trail.

An elegant yet determined early 18th-century open-well staircase features an open string with 2 turned balusters per tread supporting a ramped handrail. The panelled dado ramps to match. The first-floor room in the rear wing has small-framed 17th-century panelling: a frieze of punched decoration adheres to the strapwork tradition. A passage at courtyard level provides access to a smaller room with similar panelling but a scrolled frieze. The main front roof comprises common rafters only and butt purlins, much renewed, but dating from the early 18th-century remodelling.

Associated Structures

Running west from No. 13 are the north and south walls of a former late 15th-century storage building, constructed of red brick with later repairs. Three distinct rebated sections in the south wall possibly indicate carriage doorways. The north side of the north wall retains remains of two 4-centred window openings and one blocked doorway under a depressed arch.