Description

HIGHAM FERRERS MARKET SQUARE SP9668SW (East side) 20/56 Bede House 23/09/50 (Formerly listed as Bede House and Preaching cross) GV I

Bede house, now church hall. c.1428, restored C19. Squared coursed and banded limestone and ironstone with C20 plain tile roof. Hall plan with chapel at east end. Single storey. South elevation of chapel of one-window range with 2-light ogee-head window with panel tracery. Gabled roof with ashlar gable parapet and finial. 2-stage clasping buttress at corner, with gargoyle above. 3-light east window with renewed panel tracery. North elevation of chapel is similar to south. Window has renewed tracery and crocketted hood mould with carved label stops. Arch-head entrance to undercroft to far right. South elevation of hall is of 6 bays. 2-window range. 2-light square-head windows with transoms and cusping to second bay from either end. North doorway in bay to far left. 2-stage buttresses between bays. Ashlar gable parapets and rebuilt lateral stack. C20 single-storey extension attached to right of centre. North elevation of hall is similar to south elevation. South doorway in third bay from west end has moulded stone surround with 4-centre arch head, and hood mould with label stops decorated with rosettes. West elevation has central doorway with 2-centred arch head, and crocketted hood mould with label stops decorated with rosettes. 5-light Perpendicular window above with panel tracery, crocketted hood mould and carved label stops. Double-chamfered plinth around whole building divides and rises over doorhead. Carved kneeler to left side of gable and bellcote at apex with crocketted gable. Canopied niches with C20 figures, in sides of bellcote. Interior: hall has C15 fireplace in right wall with 4-centred arch head and hood mould. 5 Bedesmens lockers in left wall have C20 doors. Restored C15 roof structure with moulded arch braced trusses. Moulded and chamfered arch from hall to chapel has castellated capitals to responds. Ogee-head niches to either side of east window and ogee-head piscina to right. Undercroft under chapel not inspected. Bede House was re-founded in 1428 by Archbishop Henry Chichele. The foundation was for 12 old men and a woman attendant. Each had a cubicle and hall locker within the hall. It continued in use until C18. The chapel, which was roofless by mid C19, was restored by Earl Fitzgerald.

Listing NGR: SP9614068486

External Links

• Wikidata Q17526831

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Recommended Books

• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Leeds, Bradford and the North (Pevsner Architectural Guides / Buildings of England)
• 
  Setting up a Listed Building Heritage Partnership Agreement: Historic England Advice Note 5
• 
  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2
• 
  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability
• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)