Step House

WETHERINGSETT-CUM-BROCKFORD HOCKEY HILL TM 16 NW 3/123 - Step House

-- II Former farmhouse, now 2 dwellings. C15 hall range to right, early C17 parlour block to left, replacing medieval work. Late C17 service range at rear. Timber framed and rendered. Service range has C18 red brick gable end. Parlour block is roofed with asbestos slates, the remainder with concrete pantiles. 1½-storey hall range and rear wing, parlour block 2 storeys with former attic. Small-paned casement windows of C20. Boarded and plank doors, that to the right in the original cross-entry. One raking dormer to right. Stack at junction of the 2 front ranges, most of the shaft rendered. Interior. Hall range has partly exposed studding with reversed braces. Intact open truss over former open hall, now in partition wall between the 2 dwellings: slightly cambered tie beam with curved braces meeting at centre; plain octagonal crown-post with 2-way bracing. All roof timbers are heavily sooted. Service partition shows evidence for arched doorways. At rear of service cell is a solid-tread stair, probably the original re-positioned and an important survival. C17 inserted floor in hall, the main beam with nicked ogee stop-chamfers. Parlour has heavy plain studding with no visible bracing. Lower ceiling has axial beam with nicked ogee stops and chamfered joists. Plain joists in upper room. Butt purlin roof with 2-way straight plank wind bracing. Many re-used C15 and C16 components in rear wing.

Listing NGR: TM1268366646