Ancient House

Ancient House, Debenham, Gracechurch Street

The Ancient House comprises the hall, service rooms and kitchen of a former inn, now divided into two dwellings. It dates to circa 1540 and is timber-framed and plastered, with a plaintiled roof to the front and pantiled roof to the rear. The building is two storeys with an attic.

The street frontage features a continuous jetty on original brackets, although only the caps of the buttress-shafts remain. The mid-rail beneath the jetty is moulded. The windows are largely from the 18th century, with mullion and transom frames containing much old square-leaded glass. Two ground floor windows have boarded or panelled shutters. At the extreme left is a small early 17th-century window with ovolo mullions and carved sill.

Number 1 has a fine timber porch with brick nogging. The enriched tie beam is dated 'T' over 'SF' (for Simon and Frances Tovell), June 1638, and the porch features an overhanging gable on carved brackets with an ovolo-moulded entrance. One side of the opening has intact turned balusters. Within the porch is an ovolo doorframe and good plank door with panelled face, both of 1638. These sit within the original 16th-century cross-entry doorway with a 4-centred arch and well-preserved carved spandrels. Number 3 has a boarded door.

The building has internal and gable stacks, both dating to circa 1540. The internal stack is mainly of narrow red brick with plain shafts.

The interior of Number 1 comprises the hall and cross-passage. The service doorways have carved spandrels, one of which is incomplete. Against the cross-passage stands the original screen, heightened in the early 17th century, with a moulded top rail and hollow-moulded muntins. There is one wide 4-centred arched doorway and another similar opening blocked in the early 17th century. The side facing the hall has an early 17th-century all-over painted design of lozenges. The front wall of the hall shows original brick nogging.

The hall ceiling has a fully-moulded main beam (slightly mutilated) and closely-set plain joists. The fine fireplace features moulded brick jambs, the upper part of a moulded lintel, and a moulded square stuccoed surround. Above are a central pair of niches with stepped heads and a further niche on each side with a stuccoed 4-centred arched head. The side of the chimneybreast has two further niches, and below is a small 17th-century cupboard with original door. Brick archways between the stack and side walls, one incomplete, once provided access to an adjacent room and to the cellar. The brickwork shows remains of red ochre wash and lining of joints.

Behind the stack is an early 17th-century newel stair. The chimneybreast of the upper room contains fragmentary late 16th-century painting of linked quatrefoils enclosing flowering plants, probably roses. Two contemporary inscriptions are present, including 'Let every man yn his youth (?) obedient be Gydding hys household and family'. Early 17th-century overpainting depicts vertical panels resembling columns. The plastered ceiling has a simply-moulded surround.

Number 3 comprises the service rooms and kitchen beyond. The kitchen has an open fireplace with original lintel. Above the service rooms is a well-preserved original window with heavy square mullions. Two early 17th-century windows are blocked. A continuous gallery at the rear contains an original doorway which led into a gardrobe. Several 16th and 17th-century doors survive.

The building retains an intact queen-post roof over both occupations. A drawing of the whole structure is held by Mr T. Easton of Bedfield Hall.