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Historic Properties

No. 3

A 17th century timber framed, plastered, cottage with exposed beams and 20th century additions. In 1680 John Ruggles, one of the main clothiers of the day, bought this “improved residence” which had been part of a medieval rambling mansion. The property had originally been called Stockwell House, th...

No. 5 "Cottesmore"

An early Tudor octagonal chimney with filleted sides is concealed within the 18th century Mansard roof. The roof itself is not from the French influence but from an early English tradition designed to enable the use of shorter timbers. It is reputed to have housed three looms and a wool loft. In the...

No. 7 & 9

It has been postulated that these two houses, together with the northern part of No., 5, began as a 14th century H plan hall house. Very little remains of the original structure as extensive alterations took place about 100 years later. Part of the interior was lined with linen fold panelling, commo...

No. 11 "The Old House"

Built in the second half of the 16th century, originally on a T shaped plan with a cross wing at the south end, but C18 alterations and additions made the plan irregular. The first floor was originally jettied at the front, but is now underbuilt. Note the interesting octagonal chimneys built from tw...

Nos. 13 & 15 "Bradford House"

The earliest extant document is the mid 17th century will of Joseph Boosey, a grocer who issued his own trade tokens during the Civil War. His son Nathaniel, another grocer, constructed the carriage way with room over at the north end of the original house. Nathaniel subdivided the house into four t...

Nos. 19, 21 & 23

This building, which incorporated Nos., 19 to 23, is said to have started out as a medieval hall house, on a half-H-shaped plan with the wings extending towards the west. There are reconstruction features from the late 15th, 16th and 17th centuries.

At the W. end of the S.W. wing the upper st...

No. 25 Georgian House

The rear west wing was built in two stages as evidenced by the roof construction. The oldest section is typical of the first half of the 17th century with a late 17th century extension. In 1700 the property was described as “fower rooms and a buttery”.

The Georgian front was built between 170...

The Cottage, 25 Bradford Street

This is a mid-16th century 2 storey, 3 bay timber framed house, with a very good quality frame which has chamfering of most members. The roof is side purlin with straight wind braces. There is a dormer at the rear which possibly relates to a former staircase tower. The original chimney breast still ...

No. 27 "Makers"

The part of the house on the road front is of 17th century construction with a later C18 facade but the rear two storey, two bay, building with attic and cellar is of 15th century construction with crown post roof. This early part of the building is constructed of substantial timber framing. The fir...

No. 29 "Clinton House"

This is a 17th century house with a typical 18th century front added afterwards. There is evidence in the structure by way of two 16th century chimney stacks and framing indicating a former earlier building. In the 17th century it was owned by Hercules Arthur, a prominent clothier of the time after ...

No. 31 "The Old Court"

This was the ancient Manor house of Friars, often to be found spelt 'Freyers'. The existing house has a 17th century frame with remains of late 16th century work in the cartway. It was refronted in the 18th century and raised 1 storey with grey gault brick, now painted, with a parapet and cornice. T...

No. 37 "The Bawn"

​This 17th century house was built on the site of a much older one and is fitted with a recent 18th century front. The cellar has constant running water in it, which presumably comes from the springs on the hill on the north side of Bradford Street from which all the water was taken for processing i...

No. 39 "Gresham House"

The property was originally at right angles to the road, of uncertain date. Wattle and daub with a lime plaster render is exposed in the back room on the first floor. At first floor level, a chamber of at least two bays with an arch braced tie beam open to the roof, which may have consisted of plain...

No. 41 "Dragon House"

It was built in the first half of the 16th century with a little cartway. There is an interesting outhouse here which could have contained a brick built wool washing vat 8 to 10 feet in diameter. Notice the remains of a woman's face set in the plaster on the front. This is an original figure very pr...

No. 43

This shows an early attempt at conservation, as the house was built by Land Courtauld in the 20th century and was designed to copy and blend with the style of other houses in the street....

Friars Lane

Earlier historians referred to this as Harrison’s Lane after a grocer who occupied the shop at 61 Bradford Street. At one time the Lane had a malting which was later occupied by the council as a warehouse and has since been redeveloped as a series of late 20th century houses. The brook at the west e...

Nos. 63 to 73

This group appear to have been constructed at the same time but this external appearance is deceptive.

Number 63, a bakers shop for many years has a dado of elaborate linen fold panelling, said to have come from Bocking Church in 1855.

The former shop premises at 65 are later than 67-6...

No. 75

The consensus from various inspections dates this house to the 14th century. with additions dated to the 18th century, 19th century and 20th century. The roof has arched braces to a central truss supporting a crown post with a mouldered cap and base. The first floor level appears to have had no inte...

Woolpack Lane

The Cottages on the right hand side in the picture are found on the first detailed map of the street made for the “Nockold Survey”. The middle cottage, Weavers Cottage, was owned by Pasfield Senior, a builder who owned what is now Nos. 19 – 23. The Victorian terrace on the left hand side replaced ea...

No. 77, 79 and 81 "The Woolpack"

With its striking array of gables the old Woolpack Inn is one of Bradford Street’s most iconic buildings. The two end wings were built circa 1590 and the central section circa 1660. The bay window on the left side is an original Elizabethan one and the fixing holes for the first storey window of the...

No. 83 Bay House

This Regency house, built about 1800, takes its name from the coarse woollen fabric known as Bocking Bay, which was produced by Jeremiah Brock in a bay factory at the back. It was probably built by Josias Nottidge, Brock’s son-in-law, on the site of 3 cottages inherited from Brock. The wife of one o...

No. 85 & 85A "The Mattings" and “Jute House”

85 and 85A was built as a single 15th century or early 16th century timber framed and plastered house of L-shaped plan with wings extending towards the N and W. The upper storey is jettied with 20th century restoration of a carved bressumer and panels of 20th century ornamental plasterwork. The roof...

No. 87 "Wentworth House"

The heavy mullioned windows in the south wall suggest a date of the second half of the 14th century for the southern bay which is not perpendicular to the street. The two principal jettied bays are typical of a mid 16th century town house, and the fine central fireplace may date from 1550, and seems...

No. 89 "Maysent House"

The earliest parts of the building are 15th century or 16th century with alterations in the 17th century and 18th century, most notably the 18th century brick façade. Note the 19th century cast iron balcony on the north wall. Extant deeds from the 17th century show that it was owned by a succession ...

Queens Meadow

Queens Meadow was built in 1930 for William J. Courtauld, who lived here only briefly, until it was passed (we believe given) to Valentine Crittall. A brick in the doorway arch bears the following inscription: "WJC 1930”. The site was for almost a century the Queens Meadow where cricket and other sp...

No. 129/135 Former "The Six Bells"

The former Six Bells public house, now private dwellings, was built in 1932 to replace the original Six Bells, a hostelry from ancient times with a strong local tradition that it was originally a Church Alehouse. It stood very close to the junction of Church Lane and Bradford Street on the ground th...

No. 173 "Dial House"

The date on the carved beams on the front is 1603, however, the construction seems to be of an earlier style. The front door and hinges are of a very early date. Note particularly the carved dragons and grapes on the bressumers at both front and side and the tiny upper windows in the side wall. The ...

No. 185 Mill house and Bradford Mill

Cardinal Vaughan opened the Franciscan Convent on 2 October 1897.

Franciscan Convent, the new Church was opened on the 25th May 1899 by the Right Reverend Bishop Brindle with High Mass at 11.30am.

Franciscan Convent School

A Memory of Bocking

I remember being...

Bocking, Bradford Street Bridge

The present bridge was not the first bridge across the river. In 1869 when the previous wood bridge needed repairing the point was raised that the parish council in a court case in1829 were found liable for the repair of the bridge. In 1837 the bridge was widened about four feet. This earlier bridge...

Fulling Mill House (Convent)

Over the river in Broad Road is The Franciscan Convent and Church of the Immaculate Conception an irregular group of red brick buildings; the house (timber-framed and plastered) dates from about 1830 when it was rebuilt and the church was designed by J. F. Bentley (Westminster Cathedral) in 1898. Th...

No. 114 "The Tudor House"

Built in about 1520 for a Bocking clothier the Tudor House is richly endowed with oak timbers. There is a gatehouse at the south end and a characteristic carved bressumer supports the jettied first floor. It was fitted with glazed windows on the ground floor when built, but due to the expense of the...

No. 110

This house is notable because it was built between 1680 and 1690, whereas most other 17th century work in the street is in the form of modification or alteration. This is a very nice example of the 4 room design which occurs in so many houses both large and small from this era. 19th century alterati...

Nos. 108 & 108a

There is some uncertainty about the age of 108. It has been suggested that its origins are a late 16th century 3 bay house, probably with a front jetty, and extensively altered in the late 18th century. 108a forms a north wing and is probably older than 108. The building was owned by the Gosling fam...

Nos. 104a & 106

106 was a large late 16th century timber framed three bay house. The first floor was originally jettied but later underbuilt. The building was refronted in the 18th or early 19th century with sham timber framing. Early 18th century detailing includes some dado panelling, also inside there is a fine ...

Nos. 102 & 104

This is a timber framed and plastered house, possibly dating from the early to mid-15th century and extensively altered in the mid-16th and early 19th centuries. The ground storey has a small 19th century shop window from when it was a grocer’s. The narrow passage between Nos. 104 and 104a is known ...

No. 98 and 100

A timber-framed and plastered building probably 17th century with 18th and 19th century alterations. The frame suggests it could be part of a much earlier medieval hall house. The arched doorways at ground level were cut from a piece of wood that included both trunk and branch indicating a 14th cent...

No. 94 Wych Cottage

This is a typical 3 bay 2 storey mid-16th century timber framed house with many construction details of the period. It is worthy of note as the frame is more than 75% complete, which is unusual as records show that so many were later extensively altered. The windows showing on the front are modern (...

Nos. 92 and 92a

The house was first built in the 16th Century and probably jettied to the street. To the rear of the property further bays were later added at right angles to the road. These may have started life in the 16th Century with a single floor and then built upwards in the 17th Century. This is a plastered...

Nos. 84 & 90

This is a late C16 range of timber framed and plastered houses in four tenements with C17 additions and altered in the 18th century and 19th century when the front was heightened. The south end gable has some exposed timber-framing. The building is of two storeys and attics. It has a five window ran...

Nos. 70 to 76

The mid-20th century semi-detached houses standing here replaced cottages and the tenements which had once been the "Swan Inn", an 18th century hostelry, demolished in the 1939 slum clearance. The inn had a gatehouse to the rear and was joined to 78, the end timbers of which can still be seen expose...

Nos. 68 & 68a

The ceiling joists are a plain indication of its original date - about 1450. Late 18th century documents identify this building as the “Rose and Crown” whilst the inn is mentioned as early as 1671. The Mansard roof was rebuilt in the 18th century. In 1803 it was owned by the Gosling family, the loca...

Nos. 54, 56 & 56a

The main block of these was built in the early 16th century but the roof was rebuilt in the 17th century and the building refronted in the 18th century. There is a long rear wing along Phillips Chase, with a gatehouse at the farther end. The first floor is open throughout this wing indicating some f...

Nos 50, 52

No. 52
17th century timber famed house refronted in the 18th century, although given the history of many properties in the street its origins could be much earlier. It is first identified as the King’s Head inn with brewery behind in the will of Samuel Tabor in 1784 when it was b...

No. 48

The 18th century facade hides a formerly jettied timber framed building dated to about 1500 on the evidence of tree-ring dating. The Georgian front and Mansard roof are thought to have been added in 1787 as were the addition of two chimny breasts and the internal rearrangement of rooms. This date co...

No. 46 "Cardinals House"

This building was rebuilt by the Gosling family after its publicised sale in 1855. It had been since before the mid 16th century the "Cardinal's Hat" public house, so called after Cardinal Wolsey who, when being made a Regent in Rome, sent a coach to England to collect a hat which he had left behind...

No. 44

This is an 18th century gault brick building, altered again in the 19th century, it is an imposing structure comparable to but not of such good quality as No. 4. The interior has a panelled room on the ground storey and a linenfold oak panel dado. There is a good original door case at the rear, and ...

No. 42, 40 "The Lavender House"

Originally a single house the impressive 18th century facade conceals a timber framed building from circa 1400, which as far as can be ascertained is a T shaped plan, the rear wing of which is contemporary. The quality of the mouldings to the ceiling joists in the older part are extremely high class...

No. 36. "The Angel"

This was originally built in the 15th or 16th century as a 2 storey building parallel to the street. It had a gable on the north end and half-hip to the south. The present condition of the building which includes a small gabled 16th century staircase tower, with a 17th century staircase at the rear,...

No. 24

A late 18th early 19th century timber framed, plastered, house. It was owned in the mid-19th century by John Holmes on of the prominent solicitors in the town.

From 1912 to 1935 the house was the home of the Rev. David Coghlan (Catholic) and served as the Presbytery before the Catholic parish...

Nos. 16,18 & 20

This group were all built between 1490 and 1540. No. 16 being at right-angles to the road, and Nos. 18 and 20 parallel with the road. There is evidence in the frame work that there was at least one more dwelling attached to No. 20, and this might have been another crosswing similar to No. 16.
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Nos. 10, 12 & 14

This group was originally built as one house along the road front (about 1550) but was later sub-divided and wings added at the rear. Note how 10 has been stretched by approximately five feet to provide additional ceiling height at ground floor level, possibly to accommodate weaving machinery. Perio...

Nos. 6 & 8

This appears to be a late 18th or early 19th century building incorporating structural elements dating from about 1500. The building is constructed on an E-W axis there being a cross wing at the south end. The recorded memories of Henry Harrison, who grew up in the street in the latter part of the 1...

No. 4. “Courtauld House” (originally "Beech Holme" and later "The Elms ")

This house was built in about 1720 on the site of a much earlier building from which some timbers and the chimney-stack were reused. It has typical Queen Anne features, corbels under the eaves, arched window tops, double roof and gully. Inside there is a fine staircase and some excellent 18th centur...

No. 2. "Little Bradfords"

This is a large and extremely complex building which has grown to its present size over a number of years. The build history for this large property is conflicting. The Royal Commission for Historic Monuments (1916) survey stated the section furthest from Bradford Street was the earliest with a late...

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