Buckden - a Huntingdonshire Village

BRIDGE HOUSE, CHURCH STREET: A SHORT HISTORY 133 Bridge House. Stripping of the cement mortar rendering to expose the decayed timber frame and daub has been started. incorporated its own bread oven to supply the needs of the family. The mullioned windows were replaced with sash windows which slid horizontally, partly due to the low ceiling. These windows are known as Yorkshire sashes. The old window openings were usually reused for the positioning of the new glazed frames. Often these openings were enlarged. With the blocking of the cross-passage by the new chimney, the main entrance to the house was moved and re-sited at the junction of the main wing and the cross-wing. The earthen floors were covered with brick pamments (a type of floor tile ) to provide a more serviceable flooring, and many of the internal walls and beams were limewashed with a strong Prussian blue colour, another demonstration of the owners’ wealth. In more modern times the original lime render had been replaced with a cement render and the outer walls painted with masonry paint, both unsuitable. A bathroom was installed on the first floor and also central heating in the form of electric storage heaters. Electric lighting and power sockets were installed in, I believe the 1930s. During the same period the roof timbers of the main range were unfortunately replaced with softwood rafters, probably due to failures in the original structure. The Bridge Bridge House takes its name from the humpback bridge that used to carry Church Street across a stream directly to the west of the main building. The stream was the overflow from large fish ponds in the grounds of Buckden Towers. There were originally three large ponds which provided a constant source of fresh fish to the residents of Buckden Palace. They were joined together to create the large lake that still remains today. It is very likely that these ponds were formed due to the digging out of the clay to be used in the manufacture of bricks on site during the construction of Buckden Palace. The stream linked the ponds with another lake which is in an area known as the Valley, which is adjacent to the modern playing fields. The stream was originally open but has since been diverted into a culvert under ground. This still runs through the garden of Bridge House and can be accessed by lifting a large stone pad. The bridge has disappeared with the piping of the stream, but the house’s name serves as a reminder Restoration During the course of restoring the structure of Bridge House I have endeavoured to use materials and techniques sympathetic to the building. Traditional materials allow movement in the timber structure and also allow the building to breathe, which is essential to its future. The modern cement render and the masonry paint created an impermeable layer which trapped moisture inside the building. This moisture was absorbed by the daub and also by the frame, and was unable to dry out. Modern paints used internally also exacerbated this problem. In this damp environment the timber frame suffered greatly, with the sole plate all but rotting away and the bases of all the posts decaying. The elm posts suffered much greater damage under these conditions than the oak. If left to decay in this manner, the frame would have eventually failed resulting in serious damage to the structure. Where the daub had failed, it had been replaced with a mixture of inappropriate materials: bricks, concrete blocks and plasterboard. The kitchen extension to the rear of the cross-wing was a very poorly built single-storey structure approximately a hundred years old. As part of the listed building consent, I was granted permission to replace this with a two-storey extension consisting of a kitchen with a bedroom above. The materials used for this part were in keeping with the existing structure, handmade brick and local peg tiles. The pitch of the roof was matched to that on the cross-wing, but the roof line was set lower so that the extension is subservient to the main building. The Conservation Officer requested that the extension should be brick to be an obvious contrast to the timber frame building. Dressed splayed brick