Building record WTM 078 - La Chaume, Long Green

The external appearance of La Chaume is typical of several thousand similarly picturesque thatched cottages across East Anglia, yet the interior boasts some of the rarest features in Britain to survive from the Middle Ages. It is no exaggeration to claim that the eponymous thatched roof is of national importance, as the only known example in the country that combines original medieval straw thatch, with reed flecking and an undercoat of clay daub. A recent extensive survey under the auspices of English Heritage reported a complete absence of medieval thatch in East Anglia and identified not a single example of original daub anywhere. In addition to the roof covering, La Chaume preserves a 15th century open hall with a fine crown-post roof structure, all heavily sooted by the former open hearth, an impressively moulded inserted ceiling of the mid-16th century, evidence of a “parlour door” contemporary with the ceiling, and numerous other historic features which are very rarely found together in one building. While the medieval in-line house has lost both its original ends, leaving only the central hall standing, the very process which occasioned their loss illustrates the changing nature of domestic expectations over six centuries. When first built the house adhered to the standard domestic room plan described in the Appendix of this report, but required a new parlour in the 16th century when a chimney was inserted in the old, and probably lost its service rooms at the same time (S1).