Wilgate House

Wilgate House, Throwley

A timber-framed house dating to the 16th century, at one time divided into two cottages. The ground floor has brick infill of late 18th or early 19th century date. The building was refenestrated and refurbished in the late 20th century. A late 20th century extension attached to the south-east is not of special interest.

The house is timber-framed. The first floor is clad in weatherboarding, except for the south-west end which is tile-hung. Close-studding on the north-west side is shown in a photograph from circa 1985 and is likely to remain under the cladding on this and other elevations. The ground floor framing has brick infill in English or stretcher bond on a brick plinth. The roof is steeply pitched, hipped, and tiled, with an off-centre chimneystack projecting through the north-west slope.

The house is an end jetty house of five unequal-sized bays. The internal arrangement appears originally to have comprised three cells: a two-bay parlour to the south-east, a two-bay hall, and a one-bay service end to the north-west. It was probably a lobby entrance house with the main entrance on the south-east side, and the original staircase may have adjoined the chimneystack, though this area was altered in the late 20th century. In the 19th century, or possibly earlier, the building was subdivided into two cottages.

On the exterior, the timber frame is exposed on the ground floor with corner posts and bay posts visible. The south-west end has a jetty with joist ends exposed and rounded off, supported on wooden brackets. The first-floor timber frame is concealed under weatherboarding or tile-hanging but is visible internally. Windows are 20th century wooden casements, including a large triple flat-roofed dormer on the south-east side and a tall window lighting the central room on the north-west side. There is a 20th century plank door with glazed insert on the south-west side and a 20th century door with fifteen glazed panels on the north-west side.

The north-east ground floor room now comprises three bays and has a spine beam with a two-inch chamfer and thick floor joists without chamfers. The floor joists in the central bay have been removed apart from a central section, and the wall frame of the central bay on the south-east side has also been removed. The fireplace has a large wooden bressumer with run-out stops, and the tapering chimneystack with two-inch brickwork is visible above. The floor is brick. The south-western ground floor room is of two bays. The south-west jettied end has square-section floor joists running at right angles to the remainder of the room, which has a two-inch chamfered spine beam and unchamfered square-section floor joists. A 1980s staircase in the central bay leads to the first floor, which now has a central gallery linking rooms at either end. The single-bay north-east bedroom has an unchamfered spine beam and square-section floor joists. A corner post and part of a bay post are visible. The internal partition separating the central section from the south-west room survives with tie beam, upright posts, and a curved windbrace. Within the two-bay south-western bedroom is a chamfered tie beam with triangular stops and curved braces, and the penultimate bay has a chamfered spine beam which preserves several carpenters' marks and square-section floor joists. The end bay has a replaced spine beam but original floor joists. The attic contains two end bedrooms with a bathroom inserted on the north-west side of the central part. The roof structure has collars, butt purlins, and original rafters, including five curved braces from the principal rafters to the purlins.

The house is shown on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1871 with an identical footprint to the present, apart from the 1980s extension. A path shown proceeding eastwards from the farmyard of Wilgate Green Farm to the south-west side of the property suggests that at this date the main entrance was on the south-west side and that the property could have been in the same ownership as the farm. By the 1897 map, the property is shown divided into two cottages with an entrance in the same position, but the path now leading northwards to link with a footpath. The building is still shown subdivided on the 1907 map. Later in the 20th century, the building reverted to single occupation.