Little Primmers

Little Primmers

This is a house dating to at least the mid-17th century, with later additions. It was subdivided into multiple dwellings between the mid-19th and late 20th centuries.

The earliest range incorporates timber-frame construction. The ground floor has been underbuilt in brick, and the first floor is clad in hung tiles and weatherboarding, all beneath a half-hipped clay-tile roof with a brick stack. Later timber-frame and brick additions stand to the rear and south sides.

The plan shows an earliest rectangular single-pile range on the west side of the building. This appears originally to have had a three-room, lobby-entrance plan, with the entrance later relocated from the west to the south and east elevations. Three two-storey cross wings and single-storey additions are positioned to the rear.

Externally, the building is two storeys tall, topped by a half-hipped roof with a large off-centre ridge stack. Almost all windows have been replaced with 21st-century double-glazed timber-casement units. The ground floor is underbuilt in brick, predominantly laid in Flemish bond and showing at least two phases of construction. The west elevation has no evidence of an entrance in its probable original location below the main stack, suggesting relocation occurred before the brickwork was undertaken. The west elevation displays irregular fenestration with three narrow windows on each floor, including a long ground-floor five-light window near the middle. The first floor is faced with hung tiles. The north return contains further ground and first-floor windows, with the first floor clad in weatherboarding. The south return includes a truncated lateral brick stack and a lean-to stretcher-bond brick porch beneath which the current main entrance sits. The first floor here is tile hung with a single-glazed timber multi-pane window adjacent to the stack. To the rear are three pre-1839 two-storey pitched-roof cross wings. The northern cross wing is built of stone and brick on the ground floor; all cross wings are clad in weatherboarding at first-floor level. A square flat-roof single-storey 20th-century extension and further single-storey 20th and 21st-century lean-tos are also present.

Internally, the original range's former three-room plan remains legible, with a north-end room, off-centre stack, and knocked-through central and south-end rooms. The north end has ceiling joists and an off-centre cross beam cut through at its east end. The former east wall has been knocked through to provide access to the later cross wing and retains elements of timber-framing including a wall plate and posts. On the north side of the off-centre stack is a brick fireplace with a timber bressumer, modified to include a modern cooking range. On the south side is a substantial brick inglenook fireplace. Sections of brickwork on both sides of the stack have been rebuilt. The inglenook is topped by a chamfered-and-stopped bressumer, and to one side is a metal door opening onto a domed circular bread oven; below the oven is a large stone and a low brick-arched opening. On the west side of the stack is a cupboard with a timber doorway with an early plank door, apparently in the location of the original lobby entrance. The former central room retains a substantial chamfered-and-stopped ceiling beam with chamfered-and-stopped joists, some of which have been replaced. To the south is a cross-axial beam, part of the former partition between the central and south room, incorporating empty mortices and at the east end the remains of an arched door frame with a jowled post. Long, thin timber lintels span the windows in the west wall. Evidence of timber framing within the former east wall includes empty diamond-set square mortices indicating a former window location. To the east of the original range is a corridor incorporating the current entrance, with later additions beyond.

A straight-flight staircase with a winder at the top, located within the south cross wing, leads to the first floor. At first-floor level, the original range retains further timber-framing, cut into to create a side corridor on the east side and provide access to later additions. The surviving frame includes pairs of jowled posts, stud walling, wall plates, at least one arched brace in the former east wall, straight braces, and ceiling beams. Internal timber-frame partitions and tie beams incorporate remains of various timber door frames and arches; two early doorways retain two-plank doors. Later timbers appear within parts of the two-storey cross wings. The roof over the original range retains elements of a timber-pegged half-hipped queen-post roof frame, including two principal trusses with queen posts, collars and principal rafters, as well as a pair of clasped purlins. The common rafters and collars comprise a combination of earlier timbers and later replacements. A central lathe and plaster partition and the tapering top of the main stack are also present.