5-7 Holloway Hill, Godalming, Surrey

Nigel Barker discusses the house in Godalming. Rob

excavation. The article

It was in the late 1960s that the route of the Godalming Relief Road, currently under construction, was first proposed. ‘When plans were at an advanced stage and construction was imminent, it was realised that the 19th century front of the cottages at 5-7 Holloway Hill in the path of the proposed road in fact concealed a largely intact 16th century, timber framed building. The solution adopted to this problem was for the County Engineer’s Department to pay for the recording and dismantling of the cottages by the Weald and Downland Museum, for their later re-erection at Singleton, and to provide funds for a complementary archaeological excavation. Following construction of the road a much reduced site would remain which has been the subject of an exercise by the County Council to design a new development on this problem site in the town centre Conservation Area.

It is the intention of the Weald and Downland Museum to reconstruct the building with its 19th century front, but with the interior restored to the 17th century plan, providing the opportunity to

illustrate a common development with vernacular timber framed houses— the refronting in a later period, often in a different material.

The original timber framed building was a single house with three rooms on each floor, a central room approximately 18 ft square, a small service room (originally divided in two) and a larger room at the south end. The roof was clasped sidepurlins, but with the purlins tenoned into the truss over the central room. A 17th century extension to the south end retained its Bargatc stone walls (the local stone) but its original form is unknown.

The house originally had a central rear stack, which was then rebuilt slightly later in the 17th century using the same foundations, possibly because the original stack suffered from some structural weakness. The greatest change in the house occurred in the mid-l9th century when the original front wall was removed and replaced with dressed Bargate stone, whilst the interior was divided, extra chimneys and ourshots were added to form two cottages and the original staircase was removed.

dismantling of a 16th century timber framed Poulton describes the ensuing archaeological is completed by a summary of the design

proposals for a new house on part of the site.

5-7 HOLLOWAY HILL, GODALMING, SURREY

perspective viewpoint