Hemingsby House

Hemingsby House

This is a complex two-part building now divided into Nos 56A and 56B, set in the Close. The building has a long and distinguished history spanning from the early 14th century to the 18th century.

The right-hand part (No 56A) dates from the 14th and 15th centuries. It is constructed of flint and stone, with herringbone-patterned flat tiles in parts of the walls. A projecting gabled wing at the right-hand corner features a large moulded stone pointed arched doorway on the ground floor, now blocked, with a stone mullioned window above on the first floor. The south wall of this wing is entirely of tile herringbone with a 3-light renewed stone mullioned window. The main front has 2 gabled dormers with modern lead casements and tile-hung cheeks, 2 two-light stone mullioned casements on the first floor, and 2 similar windows on the ground floor. The central ledged door, probably from the 14th century, has moulded cover fillets to the junctions of boards and sits within a 14th or 15th-century gabled stone porch with moulded coping. The porch entrance is a pointed moulded arch with shields set in the spandrels; this porch may have been reset. A steep pitch gable end with old tile roof covers this part of the building.

The interior of this section originally contained one large hall with a small room in the wing. The major part of the hall remains in original condition with an open timber roof. The north end has been partitioned off at a later date to form an additional room. The roof features collar beams on arched braces and 4 tiers of single cusped windbraces, with principals single-cusped above the collars. The wall plate is decorated with quatrefoils and bears an inscription with the name of William Fideon, a Greek Scholar who escaped from Constantinople in 1453. Fideon was Canon from 1457 to 1473. A reset 17th-century stair leads down to the lower ground floor, where a 14th or 15th-century hall screen has been reset. This screen has 2 pointed entrances with delicate shafts and buttress shafts, carved finials. The linen fold panelling has been reset in the later part of the house (No 56B), probably installed by Fideon or Canon Nicholas Upton, who enlarged the building between 1445 and 1457.

The building was probably first built in the early 14th century by Alexander de Hemingsby. It was enlarged in the 15th century and enriched with panelling around the same time. Canon Edward Powell, an advocate of Catherine of Aragon who was later hanged for denying the Act of Supremacy, lived here.

The left-hand part (No 56B) was partly rebuilt in 1726 by Canon Joseph Sayer. The upper part is constructed of red brick with even chamfered stone quoins. It features a moulded stone cornice and frieze, with a tall brick parapet flanked by stone pilasters and stone coping containing 5 recessed panels over windows and door. The semi-basement contains older masonry in the walling, as do the south and west sides. It is separated from the upper brick part by a stone band. The raised ground floor displays 4 tall recessed sashes with flat rubbed arches and triple keystones, with a large central door of 8 fielded panels and an arched radiating fanlight, all in a banded and chamfered stone surround. The semi-basement has 4 blind windows. The door is approached by a flight of steps with plain wrought iron rails.

The west front to the garden features a modillion eaves cornice and a hipped old tile roof. The first floor has 4 windows and a glazed and panelled central door with a dogleg 19th-century iron staircase with delicate balustrade providing access to the garden. The ground floor has 4 squat sash windows. The earlier part (No 56A) on this front has altered fenestration and a gabled dormer, but retains a stone buttress.

The interior of No 56B contains a suite of 4 large finely proportioned rooms dating from 1726. One bedroom is furnished with reset very fine linenfold panelling from floor to ceiling, while other rooms have linenfold panelling as dado panelling. This part has large stone cellars to the east side, some reusing medieval masonry. The house is set back with a small formal garden to the front and a large garden extending down to the river behind.

All the listed buildings in the Close form an outstanding group.