Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Grade II* listed building. Main construction periods 1567 to 1959. The Old Workhouse (late 15th c.)

Monument Types

• WORKHOUSE (WORKHOUSE, Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• SITE (Post Medieval to Modern - 1567 AD to 1959 AD)

Full description

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The following text is from the original listed building designation:
TQ 67 41 BRENCHLEY HIGH STREET, BRENCHLEY (south side) 15/137 Nos 1-3 inclusive, (The Old Workhouse) 20.10.54 GV II*
House, divided into 3 tenanted cottagess. Probably late C16/early C17, thoroughly restored and re-planned internally when it was bought and repaired by the Borough Council in the 1950s and converted to public housing. Close- studded framed construction, the rear wall rebuilt in brick, the right end wall underbuilt in brick on the ground floor, the first floor tile-hung. Peg- tile roof; brick stacks. Plan: The house faces north, overlooking the High Street. 5-bays including the porch, to left of centre. The 1950s alterations have made it very difficult to decipher the original internal plan on a brief inspection. The present arrangement has a left end stack and an axial stack which is approximately central. Old photographs (A Victorian Pictorial Record of Brenchley and Matfield (n.d., c.1988)) show an internal right end stack and what appears to be a simple chimneypot on the ridge in an axial position. New partitions and stairs have been introduced and at least one old partition removed. In addition to the principal doorway, serving No 2, there are C20 doorways to No 1, alongside the porch to the left, and to No 3, at the extreme right end of the range. The preservation of the external features of the building and internal conversion were clearly the priorities in the 1950s. Exterior: Very striking externally. 2 storeys and attics. Asymmetrical 1:1:2 window north front with a 2-storey gabled projecting porch to left of centre. Roof hipped at the left end, half-hipped at the right. Axial stack with a C20 brick shaft with corbelled cornice; projecting left end stack with tile-hung set-offs and a corbelled cornice. The porch has a first floor coved oriel window with a pent roof glazed with a repaired 4-light transomed mullioned window with single transomed lights to the returns, glazed with leaded panes. Square-headed outer doorframe to the porch, moulded inner doorframe. The porch gable has a 3-light casement. C20 plank front doors to Nos 1 and 3, both in C20 doorframes, No 1 with a diagonal porch hood, No 3 with a gabled porch hood on brackets. To the left a 2-storey bay on sandstone footings, the first floor with a 5-light transomed mullioned window, probably largely C17, the ground floor window C19 or C20, 4-lights and mullioned and transomed. C19 or C20 4-light mullioned and transomed windows to the right of the porch, glazed with leaded panes. 3 first floor C20 gabled dormers with mullioned and transomed windows with leaded panes. C19 photographs show smaller, more irregular windows to the right of the porch, including a third first floor window, and only 2 gabled dormers. The earliest C19 photograph shows stone coping on the roof to the right of the porch. Most of the studs of the wall-framing are renewed.
Interior: Very altered. Chamfered crossbeams survive on the ground floor and at least one crosswall (immediately left of the porch) is original. The left end fireplace is largely rebuilt, no original exposed fireplaces to the axial stack. Roof: Inaccessible in Nos 1 and 2. No 3 is largely concealed but appears to be a side purlin roof. A very handsome and prominently-sited house. Listing NGR: TQ6778741853 (1)

Description from record TQ 64 SE 10 :
[TQ 67784184] The Old Workhouse [NAT] (2) The Old Workhouse. Grade II*. Late 15th c building. (For full description see list). (3) The Old Workhouse, divided into three tenanted cottages. Probably late C16/ealry C17, thoroughly restored and re-planned internally in the 1950's. Grade II*. (4)

<1> English Heritage, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest (Map). SKE16160.

<2> OS 1:2500 1964 (OS Card Reference). SKE48206.

<3> MHLG Rural Dist of Tonbridge 1949 8 (OS Card Reference). SKE47168.

<4> DOE (HHR) District of Tunbridge Wells, Kent (Bidborough et al) 24th Aug 1990 131 (OS Card Reference). SKE40521.

Sources and further reading