Little Crittenden

TQ 64 SE PADDOCK WOOD CRITTENDEN ROAD

6/325 Little Crittenden

II House. Circa mid C15 origins, re-roofed and extended following a fire in 1937. The main block is framed construction, the ground floor underbuilt in brick; peg-tile roof replacing thatch (photograph in the possession of the owner); brick stack. 1937 addition brick with a peg-tile roof.

Plan: The house faces north and is set back from the road. The medieval block appears to have been a 2-cell plan; a 2-bay hall to the right (west) with a probably storeyed one-bay block at the left (east) end and a putative cross passage between, into which the stack was inserted when the hall was floored in the circa early C17, converting the house to a lobby entrance arrangement. Evidence of a former stair in the hall, rising against the front wall. The fire of 1937 destroyed the roof construction above tie-beam level and burnt out the floors. When the house was repaired a rear left (south east) wing was added in a sympathetic style.

Exterior: 2 storeys. Roof half-hipped at left end; hipped at right end where it is carried down as a catslide to a west end outshut. Axial stack with staggered shafts and a corbelled brick cornice. Asymmetrical 3-window front. The ground floor is painted white. The framing above the middle rail is widely-spaced and includes tension braces. Windows 1930s iron casements with square leaded panes. 1930s door to the left with a one-light window alongside at the far left. 3-light casement in the centre, lighting the hall with a second 1930s door alongside to the right. 2-light timber casement to the outshut. 3 first floor casements, the 2 lighting the chamber over the hall paired. The 1930s wing has a half-hipped roof, small-pane timber casements and is gabled to the east with a stack on the east side.

Interior: The ground floor of the main block preserves exposed ceiling beams, the hall fireplace with a chamfered lintel and brick jambs. The wall framing has jowled wall posts. The arch-braced hall tie-beam survives, the crown post and rafters destroyed in the 1937 fire. The west end of the chamber over the hall includes a former window frame with shutter grooves for sliding shutters. The first floor left hand room has evidence of former mullioned windows with diagonally-set mullions, one to the front and one to the rear wall. The 1930s carpentry is in a sturdy Arts and Crafts tradition and includes a stair with a facetted finial and well-made plank doors.

Listing NGR: TQ6784344787