16, Fore Street

IDE FORE STREET, Ide SX 99 SW

2/69 No. 16 -

GV II

House. C17 origins, front elevation remodelled as a shop front in circa 1855 and remodelled again in 1955. Colourwashed rendered cob on stone rubble footings; thatched roof, half-hipped at end of rear wing, room above passageway to left of main range with slate roof; chimney with brick shaft at left end of main range, right end chimney to rear of ridge. The plan of the house is unusual. There is 1 large heated room at the front and rear service rooms under a separate roof at right angles to the roof over the main room. There are no thick internal walls. The rear right service room is heated, sharing a stack with the adjoining property (Exeter House). The principal room at the front is clearly C17, heated from the left end stack, a rounded wall adjacent to the stack probably indicates the position of a former newel stair, the present stair leads from the services at the rear to the first floor. It is possible that the present building is the left hand end of a large U plan house with rear left and right service wings, and was formerly 1 property with Exeter House and Exeter Cottage, the rear courtyard having been filled in subsequently. This would explain the unusual arrangement of the roof. The roof trusses are probably mid/late C18 replacements. The room over the passageway to the left of the house is a later, probably C19 addition. In circa 1855 the front of the house was remodelled as a shop (document in owner's possession) with a central doorway flanked by bay windows. In 1955 this arrangement was replaced by a large 5-light window and a new entrance was made on the left return giving direct access to the principal ground floor room. 2 storeys. Asymmetrical 2 window front with an additional room above the passageway to the left. Large 5 light ground floor window of 1955 with small panes; first floor window left is a tripartite sash of the C19, 4 panes in the outer lights, 12 in the centre; first floor window right a 4-pane sash. Interior: The principal ground floor room has a large axial beam, exposed joists and an open fireplace with brecchia ashlar jambs and a chamfered lintel with scroll stops. The interior has little C20 modernization and includes some old gas fittings. Pegged collar rafter roof trusses of the circa mid/late C18 have been given extra support from C20 timbers. The roofspace has a circa late C17 timber mullioned unglazed window, formerly external but now in the dividing wall between the roofspace and the room over the passageway. No. 16 is in the centre of Fore Street and forms a group with Drake's Farm (qv) opposite and nos. 26 and 28.

Listing NGR: SX9006990625