The Old Bakehouse

THE OLD BAKEHOUSE

House, formerly incorporating bakery. Early to mid 16th century, remodelled in late 16th or early 17th century, with considerable 19th and 20th century alterations. Painted rendered stone rubble and cob. Thatch roof with plain ridge and gable ends. Brick shaft to stone rubble rear lateral stack towards left end, and brick stack at right end.

The building has a complex history. The largely intact roof structure indicates its origins as a former open hall house. The principal entrance on the left-hand side, with its opposing rear doorway, appears to mark the position of the former through-passage. Part of a plank and muntin screen survives to the right-hand side of this passage. The lower end was to the left, heated by the rear lateral stack; the fireplace retains evidence of a bread oven, suggesting this was the service end. The truss over the lower end is set so close to the gable end wall that the house probably extended further to the left before the building of Fernside. Smoke-blackening extends from end to end, suggesting the entire range was originally open to the roof, though replacement of the truss over the lower side of the former through-passage has obscured evidence of when floors were inserted. The blackening is relatively light, suggesting the hall was ceiled relatively soon after its construction.

The hall was apparently later heated by an inserted front lateral stack, though only part of the left-hand jamb of its fireplace survives. The stack has been demolished. In the 17th century, a 2-storey hall window bay was built out; this was extended to the left in the mid 19th century to incorporate a large ground floor shop window and entrance. The shop was created from the hall by inserting an axial partition butting onto the surviving plank and muntin screen, the rear part of which was removed. The rear half of the hall, left unheated, was later solved by inserting a stone rubble wall incorporating a stack at the right end. In the roofspace, this wall reduces to lath and plaster, suggesting the adjoining cottage (No.6) may have originally formed the parlour end to The Old Bakehouse. The roof structure over No.6 has been replaced in the 20th century, but the purlins are crudely sawn off over the inserted stack and partition.

In the 19th century, a rear wing was added, used for racking baked loaves. The bakery closed in the 1960s, when the wing was converted to a kitchen with the upper storey largely rebuilt. The bakehouse proper is situated in a detached building at the rear; the courtyard was covered over within living memory.

The exterior presents 2 storeys. The 4-window range has principally intact 19th century fenestration: 3-light casements to the upper storey, including an oriel at the right end with shaped timber brackets; a 20th century 2-light window at the left end; the principal doorway of 4 panels (upper 2 glazed) and shop doorway and window of 6 tall panes, all with a continuous bracketed canopy; and a 3-light window with 3 panes per light at the right end.

Interior features include a lower end fireplace with the lintel replaced in the 20th century and hearth partially lined with hand-made bricks; part of the bread oven survives. 19th century dado matchboard panelling covers the end wall. A section of plank and muntin screen with chamfered muntins, 4 and a half planks wide, survives to the right of the former through-passage. The axial hall ceiling beam is chamfered, terminating at the front end where the section has been built out. A narrow gable end fireplace has a chamfered brick arch. An early 17th century winder staircase to the rear of the left-hand corner of the hall has a balustrade at the head of stairs with six 17th century turned balusters and a larger newel; the handrail appears to have been reused as the bottom rail. A 19th century fireplace to the chamber over the hall has an eared surround and register grate.

The roof comprises 3 cruck trusses with feet boxed in or concealed, so it is unclear whether they are jointed. There are 2 tiers of threaded purlins and a ridge purlin, with morticed and tenoned cranked collars. The truss over the lower side of the passage was replaced probably in the 18th or early 19th century. The rafters and battens are largely intact, and all roof members except the underside of the thatch are smoke-blackened.