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Monument details

HER Number:TQ 83 NE 174
Type of record:Listed Building
Name:OLD CLOTH WORKERS HALL

Summary

Grade I listed building. Main construction periods 1400 to 1699. This was the dwelling-place and one of the workshops of the cloth workers who were numerous in Biddenden in the Middle Ages. Later the building was divided into 8 houses which were separated on the ground and 1st floors but were inter-connected in the attics. The whole is now one residence.

Summary from record TQ 83 NE 6:

The Old Cloth Hall, Biddenden, a long half-timbered range, tile-hung to the south and with various gables. It is obviously a composite building, of the 16th and 17th centuries. The east gable, with two overhangs, dated 1672, was the final addition. Clothworkers occupied it as workshops.


Grid Reference:TQ 85110 38502
Map Sheet:TQ83NE
Parish:BIDDENDEN, ASHFORD, KENT

Monument Types

  • CLOTH HALL (Medieval to Modern - 1400 AD to 2050 AD)
  • HOUSE (HOUSE, Post Medieval to Modern - 1865 AD? to 2050 AD)
Protected Status:Listed Building (I) 1070982: OLD CLOTH WORKERS HALL AND THE OLD CLOTH HALL

Full description

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Description from record TQ 83 NE 6:
(TQ 85103850) Cloth Hall (NAT) (1)

5272 BIDDENDEN NORTH STREET (west side) The Old Cloth Hall or Old Cloth Workers Hall TQ 8538 16/73 4.6.52. I 2. This was the dwelling-place and one of the workshops of the cloth workers who were numerous in Biddenden in the Middle Ages. Later the building was divided into 8 houses which were separated on the ground and 1st floors but were inter-connected in the attics. The whole is now one residence. The main portion is C15. The east end facing the road was added or altered in the C17. Timber-framed range with plaster infilling, the east end close-studded, the ground floor mostly rebuilt in brick, now painted: 6 small tile hung gables, some with carved bargeboards. Tiled roof. Casement windows, mostly with diamond-shaped leaded panes. At the east end is a bay on the ground and 1st floors with a window of 2 tiers of 7 lights and wooden mullions and transoms. On the first floor below the 3 westernmost gables are similar oriel windows of 5 lights, the westernmost one with 2 wooden brackets beneath it, the others with a plaster cove beneath. Between the easternmost of the oriel windows and the bay at the east end is a slight projection on the ground floor with a sloping tiled roof and a roundheaded recess. Two storeys and attics in gables: 8 windows facing north. The east front has one window. Its first floor oversails on a moulded bressumer and brackets. Oversailing gable above with the date 1672 and the initials E S (Edmund Stede). On the ground floor is a similar bay of 7 lights and a similar oriel window above with a plaster cove beneath it. The south front is faced with red brick on the ground floor and tile hung above: 7 gables, some of them oversailing. Projecting bay on 1st floor beneath the easternmost gable. (2)

The Old Cloth Hall, Biddenden, a long half-timbered range, tile-hung to the south and with various gables. It is obviously a composite building, of the 16th and 17th centuries. The east gable, with two overhangs, dated 1672, was the final addition. Clothworkers occupied it as workshops. (3)
Formerly TQ 83 NW 17

The following text is from the original listed building designation:
BIDDENDEN NORTH STREET 1. 5272 (west side) The Old Cloth Hall or Old Cloth Workers Hall TQ 8538 16/73 4.6.52. I
2. This was the dwelling-place and one of the workshops of the cloth workers who were numerous in Biddenden in the Middle Ages. Later the building was divided into 8 houses which were separated on the ground and 1st floors but were inter-connected in the attics. The whole is now one residence. The main portion is C15. The east end facing the road was added or altered in the C17. Timber-framed range with plaster infilling, the east end close-studded, the ground floor mostly rebuilt in brick, now painted: 6 small tile hung gables, some with carved bargeboards. Tiled roof. Casement windows, mostly with diamond-shaped leaded panes. At the east end is a bay on the ground and 1st floors with a window of 2 tiers of 7 lights and wooden mullions and transoms. On the first floor below the 3 westernmost gables are similar oriel windows of 5 lights, the westernmost one with 2 wooden brackets beneath it, the others with a plaster cove beneath. Between the easternmost of the oriel windows and the bay at the east end is a slight projection on the ground floor with a sloping tiled roof and a roundheaded recess. Two storeys and attics in gables: 8 windows facing north. The east front has one window. Its first floor oversails on a moulded bressumer and brackets. Oversailing gable above with the date 1672 and the initials E S (Edmund Stede). On the ground floor is a similar bay of 7 lights and a similar oriel window above with a plaster cove beneath it. The south front is faced with red brick on the ground floor and tile hung above: 7 gables, some of them oversailing. Projecting bay on 1st floor beneath the easternmost gable.
Listing NGR: TQ8511738505 (5)

Archive material: BF076921 THE OLD CLOTH HALL File of material relating to a site or building. This material has not yet been fully catalogued. Copyright, date, and quantity information for this record may be incomplete or inaccurate.


<1> OS 1:2500 1974 (OS Card Reference). SKE48216.

<2> DOE (HHR) Dist of Ashford Kent Aug 1979 33 (OS Card Reference). SKE40188.

<3> Bldgs of Eng W Kent & the Weald 2nd Ed 1980 169 (J Newman) (OS Card Reference). SKE37938.

<4> Newman, J., 1980, Buildings of England: West Kent and the Weald, Bldgs of Eng W Kent & the Weald 2nd Ed 1980 169 (J Newman) (Monograph). SKE7817.

<5> English Heritage, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest (Map). SKE16160.

Sources and further reading

Cross-ref. Source description
<1>OS Card Reference: OS 1:2500 1974.
<2>OS Card Reference: DOE (HHR) Dist of Ashford Kent Aug 1979 33.
<3>OS Card Reference: Bldgs of Eng W Kent & the Weald 2nd Ed 1980 169 (J Newman).
<4>Monograph: Newman, J.. 1980. Buildings of England: West Kent and the Weald. Bldgs of Eng W Kent & the Weald 2nd Ed 1980 169 (J Newman).
<5>XYMap: English Heritage. List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest. [Mapped feature: #20385 listed building, ]

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