Holters Green

Description

The elevations at Holters Green are largely boarded above brick underbuilding. There are considerable additions to the north and west. The roof is tiled. Along the eastern elevation there is a visible mid-rail, render over bay posts, and some brickwork with grey headers.

The earliest part of the house (eastern section) consists of three bays with square framed panels on the north end at ground and first floor levels. There is just over 21/2 feet between the last bay and the southern end wall, which is neither a jetty, nor long enough to be a bay. In the northern-most bay the joisting and axial girder is all stop-chamfered. The mid-tie in the southern bay is a re-used length from some earlier build; it is stop-chamfered along both edges for half its length. A hinge pintel on the north west wall indicates the site of a doorway.

The chimney stack serves back-to-back hearths, but does not correspond with the bay width. The bressumers above the hearths both appear to be lengths of a moulded dais beam from a medieval open hall house (see picture below).

At first floor level, very little framing is evident, but the only post with a discernible jowl profile is on the east wall. There is an edge-halved scarf joint in the eaves plate in the central bay, and the eaves plate on the south eastern corner has been extended. The roof had been entirely re-built with softwood and ridge boards, and the attic rooms are lined and habitable. The original framework that is visible is generally crudely finished.

Conclusions

This house presents problems, particularly as it does not have its original roof. The earliest build seems to be only a portion of an original building; the most reasonable direction that it may have extended is towards the south, where there is the curious anomaly at the end wall. There is nothing to suggest that the building pre-dates the chimney, yet the stack does not correspond with the bay divisions. As the chimney is set well over to the western side of the house, it is reasonable to suppose that the access was from the east, and there would have been space for a narrow winder stair in the position of the present staircase. There is no evidence to indicate any other first floor access.

There is a possibility that this building was not originally domestic; could it have been one of the subsidiary buildings mentioned in records from the second half of the seventeenth century, perhaps the malthouse, that was converted into domestic use? The original house may have stood in the orchard to the west. At the time of the 1841 Census the building had been arranged as 2 dwellings.

These notes have been compiled from survey reports prepared by Dr Annabelle Hughes. The full reports have been deposited in the Sussex Archaeological Society Library, Barbican House, Lewes where they can be consulted by researchers.

One of the bressumers which appears to be a re-used section of a moulded dais beam from a medieval open hall house.

Tithe Data

218 Cottage and Garden
(Holters Green)

1841 Census

Tenement Analysis

Buildings

Archaeology

Old Maps

Further Information