Wellgate Cottages, Low Street, Ketteringham, Norfolk
Wellgate Cottage is now a one-and-a-half storey tripartite house subdivided into the parlour end with part of the hall chamber and the service end, hall and part of the hall chamber. Both properties have later extensions to the rear. It is now rendered externally with applied timber-framing from the late nineteenth century and it has a pantiled roof. Both properties have later porches over chamfered and pegged door frames that might date to seventeenth century alterations.
The entrance to the northern half opens into the former cross-passage with the service partition to the left (north). There are two service doorways (see photo 1); the outer posts and doorheads are 'durn' posts and constructed in elm and the inner doorheads are framed into the central oak post (Ian Tyers). The cross-passage doorways, east and west, have significant remains of the door posts to indicate that these were also 'durn' doorways. The doorheads and studs in the partition and cross-passage are pegged to the rail above. There are two large peg holes on the posts of the eastern doorway which may indicate that this doorway had gone out of use at some time and a shelf was put across the space. There is a taper burn on the most eastern door post (see photo 2). The service rooms have later inserted ceilings with common joists laid on edge probably dating from the late nineteenth century or sometime in the twentieth. The original central partition no longer survives. The western room has peg holes on some of the studs probably for shelving. There are rails which may be wallplates or girts at the level of the doorhead rail. The partition seems to show evidence of smoke blackening. At the east end of the doorhead rail is a straight brace to the tie-beam above. At the west end of the partition is a doorway with a straight lintel for a stair. The hall has an inserted floor with an axial principal joist with shield chamfer stops. The common joists have bare-faced soffit tenons with a spurred face shoulder (see C. Hewett, Historic Carpentry, Phillimore, 1980, p.283). They are lodged on a clamp fixed with large pegs. There is an inserted chimney stack to the south with a probable bread oven to the west. In the east wall there is a pegged lintel which was originally the central transom for the hall window.
In the parlour end the chamfered doorway opens into a former lobby entrance. The ceiling in the parlour has axial common joists now supported by a later transverse joist The joists have central tenons morticed into a rail within the brick chimney. There was a winder stair to the west of the chimney now replaced by a straight stair from the former porch. No wall framing is visible at ground floor level.
At first floor level the braces to the wallplates and tie beams are either straight or have a slight inverted arch. The braces to the central hall truss are almost as wide as the posts. In both wallplates to the north of the tie beam there are splayed, edge-halved and under-squinted scarf joints 85 cms long (just under 3 ft)(see photo 3). There is no key or table. The wallplates do not seem to be sooted. The tie-beam above the service partition has been interrupted by the insertion of a doorway (see photo 4). This doorway is fully framed and pegged and a dovetail has been cut into the tie-beam either side of the door posts (see photo 5). The studs below the tie-beam are pegged to the partition doorhead rail below. The queen struts are not pegged to the tie-beam and there are some large unexplained peg holes in the tie-beam. Above the doorframe is a kingpost (probably ash) with a trench for a pegged collar. The arrangement of queen posts and a central kingpost in the service partition has been seen in several seventeenth century houses in south Norfolk (see NHBG Journal 4 - Riverside Farm, Forncett St. Mary, dendro dated 1645). It is likely that this arrangement dates from the insertion of the hall floor combined with a new roof structure. The north wall tie beam has an edge-halved and bridled scarf joint. There are several taper burns on this wallplate and the studs below. The north wall was not recorded in detail as it had obviously suffered structural damage and thus been repaired and altered over time. The hall chamber, accessed from the parlour end, has a six-light (five diamond mullions) window below the west wallplate. In the corresponding position to the east there are peg holes for the studs, the northern stud can be seen in the hall with the former transom (now a door lintel) pegged to it. The central truss above the hall has braces below and queen posts above (not pegged).
The parlour chamber has no original framing exposed below the wallplate and the lower edge of the wallplate cannot be seen. There is a pair of birdsmouthed principal rafters (possibly elm or ash) which have mortices for a side purlin roof and there is a pegged collar. The hall chimney stack and the parlour chimney stack are separate; both back onto the tie beam with the hall chimney slightly further west at first floor level. The hall chimney has bricks of 9.5 inches by 2 inches and the parlour has bricks of 9 inches by 2 inches. The tie beam has been cut at the west end to give access to the hall chamber. At the east end there is a brace below the tie beam and a queen strut (not pegged) above. There is not enough evidence to determine whether this tie beam originally represented the end of the building.
Wellgate Cottage seems to have several phases of development The earliest stage, probably late fifteenth century, may be an open hall, probably with a central hearth, and either two single storey service rooms or with a chamber above. The next phase was to insert the chimney (heating the ground floor only) and late sixteenth century hall floor and to interrupt the tie-beam to give access to the hall chamber. It is possible that the roof structure was altered at this time and the slightly raked queen struts added to support a side purlin roof. The parlour end seems to be a separate later build and may have been added fully floored and with its chimney heating the ground floor before the hall was floored (note the tenons on the common joists). There is evidence for a lobby entry (seventeenth century) but this may have been a later alteration. The addition of a parlour end may have initiated a change to the entire roof. None of the queen struts are pegged to the tie beams but this is not uncommon in Norfolk.
Dendrochronology
Samples were taken from both cottages but no match was found, Ian Tyers (see above) reported that none of the data taken from the cores was consistent with each other. This could be due to the multiphases within the building and the sourcing of the timber for construction, for example hedgerow timber as opposed to managed woodland. It is unlikely that these cores will ever date.
Timber identification and dendrochronology by lan Tyers.
Susan & Michael Brown
December 2009