Building record 1308002000 - THE OLD CROWN HOUSE & ISABEL COTTAGE, SKIRMETT

Grade II. Two houses. Originally C15-C16, altered C17 and later. Externally rebuilt in flint and brick with dentil eaves, the front roughcast and whitewashed. Old tile roof, central brick chimney with off-set top. One storey and attic, 4 bays, the left bay a C19 extension. Left bays have C20 paired barred wooden casements. Third bay has C20 bow window and paired leaded casement above. All upper windows are in dormer gables. C20 board door between left bays, with flat hood on wooden brackets. Early C19 gabled extension projects infront of right bay. This is of whitewashed flint and brick with narrow dentil eaves, and has C20 casements and glazed door in left side. Other extensions to right. Interior: right bay has flanking cruck trusses, the blades terminating above the collars, and heavy longitudinal floor joists; stack with lintel dated 1618 is inserted between main posts of central spere truss; spere posts have shaped jowls; original purlins. (RCHM I p. 188 Mon. 24) (B1).
Felling date of 1463 obtained by dendrochronological dating of cruck (B2).
2 cruck trusses with curved blades, truncated above the collar, passing the collar but with no upper structure. Source: R.W. Evans, Buckinghamshire CC (B3).
Formerly The Late Crown and the Crown Inn until the early 1900s (B4).
Building survey and dendro-dating carried out in April 1989, with further building recording in 1998, suggest the building was constructed as a four-bay hall house using timber with a felling date range of 1442-1474. Bays 3 and 4 were the open hall, with bays 1 and 2 interpreted as service bays, possibly with chambers above. The roof of the two end bays were fully hipped. Two cruck trusses survive (T1 and T2), both terminate just above the collars (type ‘W’) and in both trusses the crucks have been truncated below the first floor tiebeams. The truss in the middle of the hall (T3) is very unusual in that it is an aisled structure with arcade posts rising to a collar supporting the purlins, and aisle ties connecting with the wallplates. The truss has the appearance of a spere truss, and probably marked the division of living and service functions in the hall. This contrasts with the normal use of crucks in the centre of an open hall, creating a large open space. Only one similar truss has been recognised elsewhere, at Cruck House in Aston Cantlow, Warwickshire. To the east of bays 1 and 2 a large post-medieval timber-framed wing was built. Possibly in 1618 (inscribed date on mantel beam) a fireplace was constructed to the north of T3 in the former open hall. Probably in the 19th century, another fireplace was inserted to the north of T1. Later still an in-line extension was constructed to the south of bay IV, and the roof line extended. See report for detail (B5).