Building record 1010900000 - JASMINE COTTAGE, 52 WESTBROOK END

Grade II. House. 2 C15-C16 bays to left, altered and extended C17. Timber frame with 3 cruck trusses, one exposed on left gable. Whitewashed plaster infill, pebbledashed stone plinth. Half-hipped thatch roof, small brick chimney between right-hand bays,partly rendered external chimney to front at left. 1½ storeys, 3 bays. Irregular casements, mostly C20. Ground floor has paired wooden casements in left-hand bays and single light with cast iron latticing to right. 2 paired wooden casements in thatch. Ledged board door to left of centre bay. Altered single storey extension to right has fishscale tile roof and one paired lattice casement. Central room on ground floor has painted flower decoration on crucks and stop-chamfered spine beam and joists. RCHM II p 218 MON 32 (B1).
3 cruck trusses with single curve blades truncated above the collar, passing the collar but with no upper structure. Source: P. Woodfield (B2).
Building survey and dendro-dating carried out in May 1990 suggest the building was constructed as a three-bay hall house using timber with a felling date range of 1536-8. A floored chamber at first floor level occupied bay 1 with an open hall and hearth in bays 2 and 3. The use of a smoke hood in bay 2 is suggested by the limited extent of sooting of the timbers. Three cruck trusses remain, T1 is half-hipped (type 'V') T2 and T3 terminating just above the collar (type 'W'). Probably during the 17th century the floors were inserted, and a fireplace constructed in bay 2. Truss T2 is notable for a good set of floral wall paintings discovered on the timbers below the inserted floor. These would have dated from shortly after the insertion, as they do not extend above the first floor level. In later work, T4 has been destroyed and part of the upper half of the wall frame in bay 3 removed to first floor level. Apart from this and the usual alterations to window and door openings, the house has remained little altered. See report for detail (B3).