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THE OLD CLERGY HOUSE |
Welcome to The Old Clergy House at Alfriston. This is where I work.
Although the front door is closed in this shot, you are always assured of a warm welcome.
Originally built in 1350 for a yeoman farmer who had prospered in the wake of the "Black Death", it became the possession of the monks of nearby Michelham Priory early in the next century and remained church property for 500 years until 1896, when, for the sum of £10, the derelict shell became the very first building to be acquired by the newly-formed National Trust.
(L) House from the village green or "The Tye" as it is known locally. (R) Snow is a rare occurrence and I was lucky to have my camera with me to take this shot.
The house from the river bank. It is a shame that the unsightly shop is such a disproportionately dominant feature of the space.
The house is a typical three bay "Wealden" hall house. It has a relatively simple oak frame which is held together with wooden pegs also made from oak and supports a thatched roof of Norfolk Reed by means of a King Post. The panels between the framing are in-filled with a mixture of wattle and daub. Normally the "wattle" would have been fashioned from hazel, but to emphasize the status of the building, hand-cut oak laths have been used instead. The "daub", a mixture of clay, manure and straw, is surprisingly strong once it has been waterproofed with several layers of lime wash.
The words "Weald" (and hence) Wealden come from the German "wald" which means wood or forest and describes the geographical location of this part of England. It is hard to imagine that this area of Sussex and Kent was once covered by dense oak and beech forest when you view the landscape today, but this forest kept the fires of the medieval industrial revolution burning for 200 years. Based on Iron, it gave us Furners (furnace) Green and the "Hammer" ponds to the west of the county.
(L) The central open hearth in the main hall.(R) Always difficult to photograph, the oak leaf carving in the main hall.
The house has a central communal hall, (hence hall house) with an open hearth in the middle of the room. The smoke from the fire would have simply dissipated up to the rafters some 25 feet above although there is evidence to suggest that it may have gone out through a small opening at the apex of the roof, (the solar), at the eastern end of the building. (chimneys had not been invented at the time the house was built).
The hall also boasts some very well carved beams, one of which, depicts an oak leaf. Could this possibly be the inspiration for the emblem of The National Trust?
The hall floor is made from compacted chalk. ( It was simplicity itself to excavate down to the chalk subsoil some 6-8 inches below the surface and build the foundations of the house straight on top). This also had the advantage of not requiring any materials that were hugely expensive to transport, such as bricks. These would have to have been carried a considerable distance by ox cart or ferried down the nearby river before being unloaded. The chalk floor has an unusual feature. The entire surface has been sealed by the application of thirty gallons (1000 litres) of stale, six-week old, cows, milk. The floor was literally flooded with the milk which then solidified to produce a relatively sound damp proofing effect once it had soaked into the top layers of the chalk. Properly laid, a floor of this construction could last for up to fifteen years.
(L)The "jettied" end to the east. In its original form, the western end would have been similar. (C) The parlour was moved to the western end following the introduction of a brick-built fireplace and chimney. (R) The gable (East) end of the house with the 18th century lean-to clearly shown.