Building record 0968000000 - Bridge House, Brookside, Lillingstone Lovell

Bridge House is a timber-framed open-hall house of four bays built around 1500, now cased in stone and with two 17th century, two-storey, forward projecting wings. The ground floor is now, and maybe was from the start, entirely masonry, and the timber framed upper storey is visible internallyon the first floor and in the roof space. The roof has straight tie-beams, cambereed collars with clasped purlins and curved wind-braces. Based on the extent of smoke blackening on the roof timbers, the two northern bays were an open hall whilst the southern two bays a parlour/solar, possibly with chamber over. There may have been further bays to the north for services. A brick shimney stack was inserted at the lower of the hall in the 17th century with a staircase alongside it, and the hall floored over. The two wings are likely to have been added about this time. Intriguingly, the house has been laid out using the basic unit of measurement commonly used for medieval architecture or town planning, the rod, pole or perch, which is equivalent to 16 1/2 feet, or 5.03m. In plan the building is 3 rods long by 1 rod wide, and the roof trusses are set on 3/4 rod pitch. Bridge House is an important, substantial medieval timber-framed building and whilst not thought to be a manor house, its construction and carpentry are of high quality indicating the status or wealth of the owner (B1).