Building record SSM 042 - The Beams & Hayling Cottage

The Beams and Hayling Cottage are not obviously ancient when viewed from the street, but would have appeared very different in the past. The tall, central section of the two properties is a timberframed structure of c.1530 that appears originally to have extended further to the left; its impressive oak timbers were exposed and the upper storey overhung the lower in typical 16th century fashion. The Beams contains the hall of this Tudor house, and Hayling Cottage its parlour, with a blocked doorway between the two. An additional storage area and perhaps a shop probably occupied the site of the single-storied modern range to the left of the former. A number of alterations occurred during the late-16th and 17th centuries that neatly illustrate the social and economic changes of the period. The right-hand half of Hayling Cottage represents the hall of a second house that was built against the gable of the earlier structure in the late-16th century; this too has been truncated, and would have extended further to the right. The narrow second house was of poorer quality than the first, reflecting a sharp decline in Stratford’s fortunes, and consisted largely of recycled timber that was plastered externally, lacked an overhang, and rose only as high as the present first-floor window sills.

The two 16th century houses were combined in the 17th century to create a pair of smaller cottages that better suited the needs of the times. The fireplace of c.1530, which had adjoined the back wall of the hall, was demolished and replaced by the existing brick chimney which contained back-to-back fireplaces heating both the Tudor parlour, which now became the hall of the second cottage, and the original hall (which was accordingly much reduced in size). The hall of the late- 16th century house was partitioned to serve as the storage area of the converted parlour. Subsequent alterations included the removal of the old-fashioned overhang by moving the ground-floor front wall outwards into the street, and the raising of the low eaves in the right-hand structure to provide more headroom on its upper storey and form the existing shallowpitched roof of 19th century slate (S1).