The Nebb, Flixton-by-Lowestoft

The Nebb, Flixton-by-Lowestoft

A vernacular farmhouse built in the first half of the 16th century, extended in the mid-18th century and altered again in the early 19th century.

The external walls are constructed of brick and the principal roof is covered in thatch. Elm and pine have been used for parts of the internal frame.

The building is long and rectilinear, a single cell deep and facing south. The rooms are configured largely as they were during the 19th century, when the building was divided into two dwellings with living space at ground floor and bedrooms above.

The principal elevation faces south. Chimneys rise through the thatched ridge line at the east end and at the penultimate bay to the west. The roof is bookended by brick parapets with protruding kneelers at each end. The walling is laid in Flemish bond at the east and west ends before coming to a deliberate vertical joint. Between these two joints the rest of the brickwork is laid predominantly in monk bond using later bricks. There are five iron tie bars. The fenestration is irregularly placed, with all windows having plate glass in wooden frames. There are five windows at ground floor, each beneath a segmental arch, and five low rectangular windows at first floor. Most are two-light casement windows, but one has a single light. There is a glazed door between the two western windows, and a pair of slim French doors roughly centrally within the elevation. At first floor, above the glazed door, is a sundial of recent design.

The gabled west elevation is walled in irregularly bonded brick. At first floor level is a square two-light wooden casement window with plate glass. The gable brickwork has kneelers at each end and a tumbling-in parapet that rises to a central chimney.

The north elevation has similar brickwork to the south, with areas of older Flemish bond at each end and a large area of Sussex bond between them. There is a small single-pane window at ground floor within the stairwell and a second two-light casement window at first floor. Much of the eastern half of the elevation has been covered by a ground floor brick-built extension. The pantiled roof of the extension connects with the eaves of the principal thatched roof. The north face of the extension has a doorway flanked by square single-paned windows. An oak boarded and shingled store sits against the north wall of the house at the east end of the extension.

The gabled east elevation also has a tumbling-in kneelered parapet and a total of five tie bars. There are segmental-headed two-light timber casement windows centrally on the ground and first floor, and a smaller single-light window inserted on the first floor.

All elevations stand on a brick plinth.

The ground floor has three principal rooms and a bathroom, as well as a lobby, WC and scullery in the north extension. There are two principal reception rooms either side of a large chimney stack. Each one has a brick floor and an open fireplace made of brick with a timber bressumer, within which a 20th-century stove has been built. The central reception room includes within the fireplace two unusual keyhole-shaped inglenook seats, probably 17th century. The bressumer above this fireplace has a number of marks on it, including interlocking Ms. In the same room is a large ovolo-moulded transverse beam. The kitchen at the west end of the house has a pamment floor, in common with the adjacent WC, and a chamfered transverse beam. The fireplace in the west wall has been partially reconstructed following the removal of an earlier range.

There are two staircases, one between the kitchen and the central reception room, and one at the north-eastern corner of the house. Both are lit by small windows.

The first floor is one cell deep and has five rooms of varying length. Halfway up the outer walls the roof begins to pitch inwards, with the ceiling drawn beneath the collars of the roof.

Throughout the house the doors to rooms and cupboards are of a 19th-century plank and batten type, hung from strap hinges. Lighting is provided by gas fittings installed in around 1960.