The Beeches

TM 07 SW WALSHAM LE WILLOWS GROVE ROAD

3/53 The Beeches

GV II

House. C16, in 2 phases, with later extensions. Timber-framed and rendered; asbestos slates with an ornamental ridge to one range, old plaintiles with old decorated ridge-tiles to the other; brick gable end on south. 2 storeys: attics to part. L-shaped plan. The south gable end is in red brick with blue headers, laid in English Bond; raised band at eaves level, corbels, plain coping; the associated chimney-stack has a plain square shaft. Various windows: one gabled dormer with 2-light casement window in the south slope of the roof, another larger dormer in a lean-to extension; 2-light and 3-light casement windows, some with leaded panes. The west face has one late c19 upper canted bay window with 3 large-paned sashes, and below it a large glazed Edwardian rounded bay with shallow-pitched slate roof. Sash windows to the upper floor of the east (garden) front, which also has applied mock-timbering with the remains of comb-pargetting on the plaster underneath. A single- storey porch with a shallow-pitched slate roof has been introduced into the angle of the 2 ranges. C20 plank door. The east-west range has good close studding exposed on the upper floor; arched braces to the angles. The west gable wall has evidence for 2 diamond-mullioned windows, and there are 2 windows with diamond mullions in situ along the north wall, as well as housings along the south side. At the east end, the gable wall has been cut away below the tie-beam, which also has diamond-mullion housings. Along this range, 3 bays in all, the main posts have no tie-beams, but the large principal rafters carry low collars. The north-south range falls into several sections, but the oldest part is of similar date to the east-west range and the 2 were apparently originally in a corner-to-corner position, although now linked by an extension in the north-east angle (cf. Tiled House, item 3/71). 2 bays have cambered tie-beams and long arched braces, some removed; according to 1966 survey, a plain crown-post roof above. The adjoining bay may have originally had no upper floor, as its end wall, with tension bracing, has a 3- light diamond-mullioned window set on the level of the present upper floor. The end bay on the south is a clear C18 addition in conjunction with the brick gable. 2 bays on the ground floor have widely-spaced joists set on edge. A straight flight of stairs with barley-sugar-twist balusters and moulded handrail in the east-west range.

Listing NGR: TM0003671111