Building record NYW 076 - Chandlers, 100 Bear Street

Chandlers lies on the northern bank of the River Stour at the western entrance to Nayland and although now part of the modern conurbation is shown on 19th century maps as a relatively isolated building beyond the village margin. In 1838 the property was owned in conjunction with a wharf on the navigable river and included extensive outbuildings on the right (west), but these had been demolished by the 1880s. The right-hand half of the present house represents an unusually complete and historically important medieval dwelling of circa 1400 with a central open hall flanked on the right by a service cross-wing and on the left by an inline parlour. The two service doorways retain rare ogee arches and the high-end of the hall was recessed beneath the ceiling of the parlour chamber. The house was small by the standards of its day, with a hall of only 14 feet in length and a parlour of little more than 8, but was built to a high standard with evidence of a crown-post open truss that has since been removed from the heavily sooted roof. At the beginning of the 17th century the parlour was filled by a chimney containing back-to-back fireplaces and a large extension containing two rooms was added to the left. The timber frame of this extension is almost completely hidden by plaster but probably formed a mirror-image tenement with a second hall and service bay. The long proportions of this 17th century building remained unaltered until the 1960s when a further brick extension was built against its left-hand gable and a narrow flat-roofed range containing WCs was added to the right (S1).