Bakers Thatch

House. Built in the late 15th century; remodelled in the early 17th century; altered and extended in the 18th century. The exterior is rendered cob and stone rubble, colourwashed, beneath a thatched roof with gabled ends and stone rubble axial chimney stacks.

The building follows a long 4-room and through-passage plan. Originally, the late 15th-century house occupied the left (west) two rooms and the central through-passage. It was open to the roof from end-to-end, divided by low partitions, with the hall positioned to the right of the passage and heated by an open hearth fire. Around the early 17th century, an axial stack was built in the hall backing onto the through-passage, and floors were inserted to create first-floor chambers. In the 18th century, the roof over the low end and much of the hall was replaced, probably coinciding with the construction of a 2-room extension with a central axial stack at the right (east) end of the house. A datestone of 1709 in the west gable end may refer to this 18th-century work. In the 19th century, the lower west end room was used as a shop.

The south front presents 2 storeys in an asymmetrical 4-window range. Features include a half-glazed door to the left of centre, a small late 19th-century shop window with six large panes to its left, and a 16-pane sash to its right. On the first floor are two late 19th-century 4-pane sashes to the left and a 2-light casement to the right. The front sets back at the right end with 2-light casements on both floors with glazing bars. A canted corner to the left has a 20th-century window. The left (west) gable end displays a small late 19th-century shop window with six large panes, a late 19th-century 4-pane sash above it, and a 1709 datestone (painted over) to its right. The rear north elevation shows a blocked through-passage doorway and sash and casement windows.

The former hall features a chamfered cross-beam with step stops at one end only and a large stone fireplace in the axial stack with remains of a chamfered timber bressumer, replaced by a brick arch now covered by a timber board. An old bench sits in the hall's front window. The high end wall of the hall retains a section of a 17th-century moulded plaster frieze, made by pressing a mould into wet plaster and repeating the pattern. The frieze displays fleur-de-lis, lions rampant, a flagon with flowers and scallop moulding. At the right end of the frieze is an 18th-century niche with a shaped shelf. The lower west end room has an axial beam rebated for a partition, which has since been removed.

The 4-bay roof preserves only the bay over the passage and low end of the hall intact. The two trusses have straight principals with feet set on the walls, mortice-and-tenoned collars, a trenched diagonally-set ridgepiece and two tiers of threaded purlins, all smoke-blackened from the original open hearth fire. The roof over the hall has been largely replaced; the lower end roof is replaced except for a purlin on the south side. The bay over the passage and lower end of the hall survives complete on the south side with the original thatching battens intact. Smoke-blackening is evident on the gable wall at the high end.

Bakers Thatch is a good example of a late Medieval 2-room and through-passage plan house, originally open to the roof from end-to-end. It was remodelled in the early 17th century and retains an interesting section of 17th-century moulded plaster frieze in the hall.