Building record HVH 121 - Anne of Cleves House, Hamlet Road, Haverhill

The Vicarage, Hamlet Road, Haverhill, is a two storey brick and timber building with tile roof, probably of 16th century origin. The front of the building has an early 19th century Tudor arcaded verandah in brick and stucco. (2)

The building described by Auth.2 is at TL 67574506. Formerly "The Vicarage" but it has been re-named Cleves House. In the last eighteen months the house has been renovated and the Tudor arcaded verandah removed. See ground photographs.

Probably C16 in origin with dated panelled rooms, one having the date on the pilasters, flanking the fine overmantel, 'T' over 16 and 'M' over 56 and initials 'R' and 'C' on respective pilasters. The other room has 'TM' over 16 and AM over 57. This was the former manor house of the Beaumont family. Prior to that it is said to have been given by Henry VIII to Anne of Cleves at her marriage. The front has early C19 Tudor arcaded verandah in brick and stucco, the centre being an entrance porch with room over. Both the verandah and a parapet at eaves level are embattled. 2 storeys, brick and timber, tile roof. 3 good stacks of 3 chimneys, 1 square diagonally set, the other octagonal with moulded tops and bases with small 'horse heads' at base corners. Windows are leaded casements at front, sash and casement at back. The 2 fully panelled rooms are good, the panelling in one case being earlier that the overmantel. (4)

The Vicarage has an endearing early 19th century Tudor front. Castellated with a catellated veranda. At the back a Tudor chimney. The building was erected c. 1656. (5)

Grade 2* Listed

Historic England Archive/Object Number: BF042833

Anne of Cleves House was built around 1630 by John Mortlock, a successful merchant who aspired to the ranks of the local gentry, and preserves two of the finest mid-17th century timber chimney pieces in Britain. Its impressive timber-framed and jettied structure, which extends to almost eighty feet in length, was originally rendered and pargeted in the latest fashion of its period, and possessed three gables that have since been removed. The timbers were not intended to be visible externally and were exposed only during an extensive renovation of 1974 which saw the removal of a remarkable 'Mock-Gothic' façade of the early-19th century that incorporated a castellated veranda. The original layout of the house was unusual and of considerable historic interest, representing a transitional stage in the development of the English House, and was quickly altered by John Mortlock's son Thomas who added the existing chimneys (the overmantels of which bear his initials and the dates 1656 and 1657). While the building is an important pexample of its type, its connection with Anne of Cleves, the fourth wife of Henry VIII, is a recent fiction, believed to have been the marketing ploy of a local estate agent in 1967. the house was known as 'Waggs' in the 17th century after the owner of the medieval house on the same site, and to have become the manor house of Haverhill in the 18th century and its Vicarage in the 19th (which purpose it continued to serve until the 1960s). Anne of Cleves divorce settlement if 1541 included the tithes of Haverhill along with those of many other parishes, but she lived at hever Castle in Kent, would never have visited the town and died almost a century before the present building was built (S6).