Building record 1255/0/4 - No.9 London Road

House, formerly inn. Late C18, altered C20. Coursed squared limestone, plain tile roof, brick end and ridge stacks

{1} House, formerly inn. Late C18, altered C20. Coursed squared limestone, plain tile roof, brick end and ridge stacks. 2-storey, 4-window range. 2-unit plan. C20 door in moulded wood surround with hood on brackets flanked by 2-light C20 casement windows with stone lintels and keyblocks. Carriage and pedestrian arches to far right with depressed-arched heads. 2-light C20 casement windows to 1st floor except for similar 1-light window above carriage arch. Interior not inspected. Included for group value.

{3} No. 9 is almost certainly an 18th century re-build.
The house is of 3 bays, with a further 2-storey bay to the rear of the NW end, and on the first floor a further bay at the south-east end provides an additional room over the arched carriage way to the rear. The roof trusses are of very rustic construction, and cannot be precisely dated, but they are probably early eighteenth century. There are no features in the walls or fireplaces which corroborate this date.
Most of the ground floor partitions have been removed. A simple stair of indeterminate date rises from opposite the present central entrance door. The SE room was probably a service room or shop, and the gable end stack is clearly inserted.
Straight joints occur each side. The back wall has a wide blocked opening extending to the floor, and now blocked, possibly when the grant-aided bathroom and WC were built in the re-entrant angle. The opening seems too large to be a window embrasure but it is unclear what else it might be.
The north-west room extends into the central bay of the building, but the partition splays back towards the rear wall to allow access to the rear door under the turn of the stair. It seems that the extension of the NW room into the central bay is a later development, as there is a straight joint in the front wall, visible internally, more or less in line with the back door. This NW room has a brick stack on the gable end. The rear third of this room has been partitioned off in the 19th century with a brick laced partition to form a store room. It is probable that this was originally the living room of the house.
The rear room is clearly added, although still constructed in stone. It extends over the NW and central bays of the building, and has a central truss. There is a gable stack, and a rear window with splayed reveals.
The first floor has shallow end stacks, that at the NW end with a simple early 19th century timber fire surround and basket iron grate.
The main roof is supported by two trusses with pegged lapped collars, and the principals are halved at the apex. The south-eastern truss is numbered II and III at the feet. The rafters and coverings were replaced in the mid- 1980s. The rear bay is an added service bay, with a gable stack, its roof on two tiers of purlins, splay-scarfed at the centre.
Buildings of rustic carpentry and character are difficult to place before or after the start of the 18th century. It is recorded that the great fire of Stony Stratford in 1742 caused fires in Old Stratford, and buildings were burnt out. It is not inconceivable that No 9 was constructed directly after that event, on a site occupied earlier.
The carriage way opening indicates that it was built as a simple hostelry on the main road to London. This may explain the large rear opening, perhaps a porch entrance from the rear yards.

{4} Undated photo, also photo dated 29.10.1993;

<1> Clews Architects, 1980s, Database for Listing of Historic Buildings of Special Architectural Interest: Northamptonshire, 7/72 (checked) (Digital archive). SNN102353.

<2> List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest ("Greenback"), F11 (unchecked) (Catalogue). SNN45262.

<3> Woodfield P., 2005, The Whittlewood Project: Historic Buildings Survey, Passenham with Old Stratford, (checked) (Report). SNN105033.

<4> Photographs of buildings in Old Stratford (Photographs). SNN112954.

<5> Woodfield, P, 2003, The Whittlewood Project: Phase 1 rapid survey of all buildings within the 12 parishes of the survey, identifying buildings that have, or are likely to have, fabric dating from before 1700 (Report). SNN116636.

Record last edited

Oct 23 2024 4:17PM