51 Fleetgate Upstair Rear Wing - Bedroom Area

Before entering this room there is a cupboard at the top of the stairs. Inside this cupboard you can see the upper part of the large chimney breast and fragments of ancient timber framing which would have been part of the original 14th century front building.

Background:

The upstairs floor was added much later than the 15th century, when a large timber framed hall was built by a rich merchant. The upper floor was added in two stages, initially the north end was floored to make a sleeping area and later the second half was floored and the staircase added. When Fred Clipson was living here there were two bedrooms at the back and a ceiling that hid the magnificent oak crown-post roof. Very few buildings with this style of roof have survived, especially in such fine condition, so it was decided to open it up into one room open to the roof. There were no nails used in its construction, just dowel pegs to pull the joints tight. The careful preparation of the beams tell that they were meant to be visible and the discolouration of the timbers indicates that there would have been an open fire on an earth floor in the centre of the hall, with louvres in the thatched roof allowing smoke to escape. It would have been very smokey, especially if the wood wasn't thoroughly dried before being burnt.

Principal Features:

• The long window uses leaded glass, though originally they would have been just open, with shutters that would be closed when it was cold or windy.
• The fireplace is Georgian, made in the 18th century.
• When first built, the hall would have streatched right to the wall of the front rooms with no staricase, no chimney breast, no dividing walls, and no upstairs floors. It would have been high roofed. The reeds used for the thatched roof would have been visible and there would have been no glass in the windows. The timber frame was the strength of this design and the walls were just bricks laid on adge with mortar to fill the spaces between the frame timbers.
• The timber used for the frame is oak. It is probable that the carpenters would have been trained as shipwrights, perhaps working at one of the ship building yards on the Haven, when not building houses.

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