Building record WLW 102 - Bribery Cottage, 19th century house

A Heritage Asset Assessment was carried out at Bribery Cottage, Walsham le Willows. The property is an unusually early example of a clay-walled structure which pre-dates the seminal article of 1843 by the Reverend Copinger Hill of nearby Buxhall who recommended the use of inexpensive clay fabric in labourer's cottages. The original layout of Bribery Cottage was almost identical to one of his suggested plans, with a single living room and a narrow lean-to store-room on each side of a central chimney. The 0.5 m thick walls here appear to consist of shuttered clay and straw in the manner of West Country cob rather than the more typical blocks known as clay-lump, and this may reflect its early, experimental form. The great majority of clay-walled buildings in the region are agricultural and domestic examples are rare, particularly before the 1850s. The external walls of Bribery Cottage were probably rendered with clay and whitewashed initially, but were later tarred to protect them from the weather and eventually encased in red brick. The roof is likely to have been tiled or thatched (as suggested by Copinger Hill), and the present hipped slate roof was added with the brickwork in the late-19th century. The windows were replaced in the 1960s and with the exception of two plank-and-batten doors and the studwork partitions of the upper storey the interior has been largely stripped of original fixtures and fittings. The extent of the alterations were considered too great to justify listing (S1).