48, George Street

48 George Street is a house of 14th or 15th century date, remodelled in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. It was converted into four tenements in the 19th century and restored to a single dwelling in the early 21st century.

The building is timber-framed with brick elevations and a tiled roof. It was originally built as a medieval hall-house with a cross-wing to the south. A two-storey 19th-century addition to the north replaced the original north service wing.

The George Street elevation of this two-storey house features a wide central chimney stack with sloping shoulders. On either side are projecting gables with segmental brick copings. The left-hand gable has an attached canted stair tower beneath a pent roof, partially rebuilt with original materials in the early 21st century. Three rectangular windows follow the line of the winder stair to light it. To the left of the stair tower, at ground floor, is the 19th-century entrance door set within a 16th-century segmental arch surround, above which is a stone hood mould. Above the door on the first floor is a mullion window with stone surround and hood mould above. This window has 16th-century diamond leaded lights, and in the centre of the gable is a stone roundel.

The gable to the right of the stack fronts the parlour cross-wing of the earliest hall. It has a late 16th-century mullion and transom window of six lights, with central king mullion and drip mould above. On the first floor is a late 16th-century mullion window of six lights, also with a king mullion and drip mould. Both windows have side lights. In the apex of the gable are two stone roundels.

To the rear are three projecting gables of varying size. The central gable has a 16th-century six-light mullion and transom window with drip mould at ground floor lighting the lower hall, while those to the left and right have 19th-century casements. On the first floor are late 16th-century mullion windows of three, five and four lights respectively, with diamond and square leaded lights, some of which are of old glass and have graffiti. To the west is a two-storey stair tower, probably of the 18th century, beneath a pent roof. It is attached to the hipped end of the 15th-century parlour cross-wing, of which a wall post, part of a brace and a midrail remain exposed in the west elevation. The 19th-century rear entrance is at the ground floor of the cross-wing.

On the ground floor the timber frame of the late 14th or early 15th-century building is exposed in the hall where a wall post and midrail on the east cross frame and rear wall frame remain exposed. The wall post has relict jointing marking the entrances into the service range. The end point of the midrail on the rear wall frame probably marks the position of the cross-passage. It is understood that other elements of the timber frame remain covered with plaster, including the west cross frame dividing the hall from the parlour.

The parlour is now the kitchen, where little early fabric is apparent apart from a wide-chamfered and stopped axial bridging beam. At the rear of the hall is the 16th-century wide, brick, four-centred arched inglenook fireplace with modern settles in the original positions. The brick was originally plastered and incised to imitate ashlar. The ceiling has 16th-century, heavily roll-moulded axial and transverse bridging beams creating a coffered effect, and heavy plaster cornices, probably of the same date. Two mid 17th-century painting schemes survive in the hall which are now covered. The first comprises a green/blue colour with black lines which, in the later scheme, was over-painted with white, decorated with brown arcading and drop pendant motifs, with fleur-de-lys over the fireplace.

At the north-east corner of the hall is the entrance porch, from which the 16th-century winder stair is accessed. The four-centred inner entrance doorway is in the position of the cross passage doorway. To the east of the hall, the 19th-century addition has no historic fixtures or fittings of interest and lies over a small cellar, probably associated with the medieval hall house.

In the outshot at the west end, the 18th-century winder stair leads to the first floor where the parlour chamber in the cross wing, sub-divided into two, retains timber cross and wall framing, including a wall post, with an empty mortice, of the late 14th or early 15th century. The late 16th-century plaster cornice covers the late 14th/early 15th-century wallplate. Fragmentary wall-paintings of the 16th century comprising painted timbers and plain infill panels and a later painting scheme were revealed here and recorded, but are no longer exposed. Wall panelling of the late 16th century and a door remain. A complete and painted (red), two-bay, crown post roof remains intact above. The octagonal crown post has a moulded capital and base, and a wide brace rises to the collar purlin. All the roof trusses remain.

In the chamber over the hall, created after the medieval hall was ceiled over, the west cross-frame is exposed. Timbers of large scantling with arched braces remain, interrupted on one side by a later door frame into the hall, now blocked. The other walls have late 16th-century wooden panelling and similarly treated, six-panel doors with contemporary latches and cockshead, 'HL' and butterfly hinges. The coffered ceiling beams are plastered with a rich vine-scroll motif, probably of the mid 17th century, and there is a cornice of late 16th-century date. The off-centre door on the north wall leads to the stair tower, where the 16th-century newel post and stairs remain.

The crown post roof over the hall is contemporary with the parlour roof, but less complete. The crown post and collar purlin have been removed, but there is evidence for a ventilation louvre and many of the trusses remain, some smoke-blackened. The gable wall with the cross-wing has smoke-blackened plaster between the studs.

Attached to the east is a two-storey 19th-century addition (formerly number 50 George Street) and to the front of the house at the time of inspection were the remaining walls of the 19th-century outshot (formerly number 46), neither of which has architectural interest. The outshot has been removed since the inspection.

Number 48 George Street lies in the historic core of Hadleigh, a characterful market town with origins in the Saxon period, documented as the royal town of the Danish leader Guthrum in 890 AD. Hadleigh became rich through the medieval wool trade and the wealth of the town is exhibited in many of the town's timber-framed buildings of the period.

The earliest phase of building appears to date to between 1380 and 1420 and comprised an open hall with a parlour cross-wing to the west. The service end to the east, possibly also in a cross-wing, has been lost to 19th-century remodelling. Between about 1560 and 1590, the building was significantly reconfigured. The front and rear were faced with brick, and projecting gables with multi-light mullion windows added. At the same time, the orientation of the building changed. The main stack, stair tower and porch were added to the street frontage and the principal façade switched to the rear, opening onto a private garden. The hall was ceiled over and the upper chambers of hall and parlour were panelled. On the ground floor, the hall had painted decoration to the walls. In the mid 17th century, a further painting scheme was applied to the ground floor walls of the hall, and a decorative plaster vine-scroll motif embellished the cornices and bridging beams of the upper hall.

Around 1700, an external chimney stack was added to the west gable end. By the late 18th century, the former parlour had been divided into two and some panelling removed. An outshut was added to the west end to accommodate a winder stair. In the 19th century, the building was poorly sub-divided into four dwellings, with an additional wing added to the east on the site of the service range and an outshot added to the George Street elevation. During this period, casement windows were inserted into the rear elevation and the late 16th-century principal door removed. Many of the windows on the George Street frontage were blocked. The rear stair went out of use in the 20th century.

The earliest documentary reference to the hall dates to 1661, when the building was known as Thorpes, perhaps after an owner of the property. It is known that in 1814, the Wesleyan Methodists purchased the building, leasing it to the Primitive Methodists (known as Ranters) in 1836. A map of that date shows the building sub-divided into three; it seems that the parlour cross-wing was used as a chapel at the time. In 1846, the land to the east was purchased for a chapel which was constructed in 1848 and enlarged in 1875.

The building has been restored. The 19th-century internal partitions have been removed and the 16th-century plan-form reinstated. The panelling and decorative plasterwork in the upper floor have been cleaned, conserved and remain in situ. The 17th-century and earlier paint schemes on the ground floor have been recorded and covered over to ensure their continued preservation, but are no longer on view.