Building record KSY 054 - 1-6 The Street

The cottages known as 1-6 The Street for a detached range on the western side of the principal street in Kersey. Despite some 20th century renovation their layout has altered remarkable little since the tithe survey of 1841 when they were owned by a local schoolmaster and rented to six tenants. The entire range is grade II* listed in three separate entries reflecting its three principal timber-framed structures. Nos. 1 and 2 on the left (south) occupy one of the oldest buildings in Kersey, a mid-14th century parlour cross-wing that originally faced south towards the church and belonged to a demolished open hall to the rear. When first built this structure contained just one large room on each of its two floores. Nos. 3 and 4 in the centre of the range comprise the service cross-wing and open hall of a late-15th or early-15th century house that faced the present street and probably possessed a shop in its front service room. The hall was raised in height during the 17th century but its sooted rafters were re-used in the present roof and a fine pair of 'durn' service doors with two-centered arches survive in situ. Nos. 5 and 6 on the right lie in a fully jettied two-cell house of the early-16th century with an intact crown-post roof that appears to have been built on the site of the neighbouring parlour cross-wing, part of which still stands to the rear. The presnt 17th century chimney serving nos. 4 and 5 was built in the 16th century parlour and suggests both properties were already in the same ownership.
The cottages represent a significant section of medieval street frontage and provide imporant academic evidence of both continuity and and change in the urban landscape. The south-facing mid-14th century cross-wing probably illustrates the original loose pattern of settlement on the northern side of the ford, as kersey expanded from the church and market place in the direction of the priory to the north, while the adjoining late-14th century hall-housereflects the development of the present street. The 16th century range appears to provide evidence of the early sub-division of tenements during the village’s long decline after its cloth-manufacturing heyday in the 14th and 15th centuries. The creation of one-up one-down tenements during the post-medieval period is a well understood process, but very few rangesof this kind have survived almost unaltered since the tithe surveys. While some internal partitions and other features are relatively modern, many walls and ceilings, whether original to their respective timber frames or secondary, retain early plaster and may preserve fragile evidence of wall paintings and other decorative surfaces beneath their whitewash (S1).