Studmore

Studmore is a high-quality house of medieval origins, probably dating to the early fifteenth century. The building was altered and extended in the early twentieth century, with a late twentieth-century rear addition.

The early block is framed construction, underbuilt in unusually large bricks laid in Flemish bond, with the first floor tile-hung. The wall-framing survives complete on the right (east) end. The additions are brick and tile-hung with peg-tile roofs and brick stacks.

The original arrangement was an open hall house of high status, comprising a two-bay open hall in the centre with moulded beams at either end. The inner end to the right (east) is jettied. The putative cross passage and service end to the left (west) of the hall have been rebuilt, initially in the seventeenth century, with the house extended beyond in the early twentieth century. An axial stack with back-to-back fireplaces was inserted in the hall; the hall lintel bears a date of 1662, though the flooring of the hall is almost certainly earlier and the date may refer to the replacement of a framed stack by a brick one. Early twentieth-century additions include a rear left (north west) block under a two-span roof and a 1930s porch outshut alongside. A late twentieth-century rear right (north east) wing completes the building history.

The house is two storeys and attic in height. The roof is hipped at the left end and gabletted and hipped at the right end. An axial stack with tall staggered triple shafts and corbelled brick cornices rises prominently. The asymmetrical five-window front includes a left-hand window in the early twentieth-century addition. A half-glazed front door in the twentieth-century addition is positioned to the left of centre. Windows comprise one-, two- and three-light early twentieth-century iron-framed casements with diamond leaded panes. Two attic dormers with hipped roofs light the upper storey. The right (east) end is jettied, with the jetty on plain brackets and tension braces to both ground and first floors; evidence of a former window survives in the first floor framing. The rear elevation includes a 1930s porch with a plank and cover strip front door.

Interior features preserve high-quality carpentry from the medieval phase. The richly-moulded beams at either end of the medieval hall remain intact, though later boarding on the soffits conceals evidence of original doorways. The hall retains probably sixteenth-century exposed joists and an open fireplace with a lintel dated 1662. The right end room preserves joists of massive scantling with evidence of a former stair. The present stair rises from the hall against the rear wall of the right end room. The lower end moulded beam marking the left end of the original hall is situated close to the fireplace of the left-hand principal room; to its left (west) the joists are replaced. The wall framing is well-preserved, featuring massive wall posts with flared jowls and step stops on the principal timbers. The hall tie beam is arch-braced; one of the braces was partly removed for a doorway. The braces are massive and fixed with ten pegs with chamfered moulding.

Crown post roof construction survives from the inserted stack to the right end of the range. The hall crown post is octagonal with a moulded capital and base and four-way up braces. The right end crown post is plain in a closed partition, heavily sooted on the hall side. Beyond the axial stack there is clasped purlin roof construction, perhaps dating from 1662.