Ketleas

1896/0/10032

CAPEL Beare Green NEWDIGATE ROAD Ketleas

27-JUN-06

II House, formerly house and stables. Circa 1389 two bay house, originally with one bay open hall, the open hall in the south east bay ceiled over and a chimneystack added to the south in the early C17, the house extended and the stables converted into living accommodation in the early 1970s. Timber framed, rendered with gabled Horsham stone clad roof and external brick chimneystack to the south. One storey and attics: two windows. Former stables to the west of brick and render with tiled roof.

PLAN: Originally two bay house with one bay open hall, converted into a two bay end chimneystack house in the early C17 and extended in the 1970s.

EXTERIOR: The front or south west elevation has two gabled dormers to the attics, a gabled porch and wide casement window to the ground floor. The rear or north east elevation has two gabled dormers and a later brick and glazed extension with tiled roof. C20 entensions are not of special interest.

INTERIOR: The wall frame retains jowled posts and passing braces to the wall frame. These long braces rise almost from ground level up to the eaves and are of the "sagging" rather than arching variety thought to be particularly early. The braces to the centre tiebeam also rise in this way from a position only 80 cm. from the floor. The roof structure was "Sans-purlin" with collar rafters and no longitudinal bracing and one truss remains. The rafters are smoke-blackened, proving there was originally an open hall. The roof was rebuilt with clasped purlins, queen struts and gable ends and many of the rafters were rotated. The roof had probably originally been hipped with end gablets to let out the smoke. Unsmoked sections for the battens suggest that the roof was originally of Horsham stone slabs. A floor was inserted into the open hall and an end chimneystack added to the south in the C17. A fireback is reported dated 1635 with the initials JS.

HISTORY: Ketleas was dendro-dated in 2004 with a felling date of 1389. The earliest reference to the land called Cattells in the "Abstract of Title to the Manor of Dorking cum Capel" is of 1537. In the 1649 survey a John Smith held Kettles alias Cattels and his could be the initials on the 1635 fireback.

SUMMARY OF IMPORTANCE: A rare survival of a substantially intact late C14 timber framed two bay house, originally with one bay open hall, with jowled posts and passing braces to the wall frame and sans-purlin roof adapted to become a two bay end chimneystack house in the early C17. C20 entensions are not of special interest.

[A K Moir "Dendrochronological analysis of oak timbers from Ketleas, Capel, Surrey, England" Tree-Ring Services Report: CAKE/04/04. DBRG Surrey Report no 2607. 1980.]