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A FIFTEENTH-CENTURY HOUSE This is a charming little timber-framed building of the fifteenth century. It is remarkable for presenting a facade suitable for a city street although situated in a mere village. Plenty of parallels for this could be found in East Anglia, but in Sussex it is unusual. There are two storeys. The front has three bays. The central one is emphasised by the gable of the hall which is on the upper floor. In the central and northern bays the upper floor projects a foot and a half over the side walk of the street. The continuity of the main roof is preserved by projecting it along over the south bay, its eaves being supported by a bracket at each end, placed longitudinally. This casts into deep shadow the little oriel window which, projecting from the wall on a boldly moulded beam, extends through both storeys of the south bay.
The design is thus picturesque and not symmetrical. In Gothic buildings symmetry can always be discarded; and this is rather more common in timber work than in stone. A monumental appearance is produced by the very heavy, almost crushing, roof of Horsham slabs, which are delightfully overgrown. The framing of this front is a most excellent piece of work, but the whole fabric is sacrificed to it, the oak beams of. the interior are in places almost barn-rough. The uprights of the front wall are placed close together, not much more than their own width apart; the principal horizontal beams are boldly moulded. The panels are as usual plastered. It is normal late mediaeval construction. The eye is at once carried up to the central feature, the ornately carved barge boards of the hall roof. These consist of a series of much enriched little trefoils, arranged as if they formed the heads of the panels of a screen. Through the mediaeval centuries gable-ends, if of timber, had been getting more and more elaborate. The effect is greatly enhanced by the massive character of the end tie-beam of the hall which is exposed in the facade.
The doors are headed in the usual style of the period with very depressed wooden arches. The oriel seems originally to have had six lights divided by the plainest timber mullions. These may be seen in the lower part of the upper window, which is blocked. The windows are otherwise of later pattern though they occupy the original voids. There is nothing at all unusual in the hall of a timber--framed building of the period being upon the upper floor, though it is interesting that it should project over the street. A Sussex example of a mediaeval timber hall being upon the upper floor is in the Residentiary at Chichester. At the splendid old George Inn at Salisbury there is on the upper floor a remarkable fifteenth century double hall with wooden pillars whose twin gable ends form a striking feature of the street facade. Behind is an earlier hall of the fourteenth century which is likewise on the upper floor and entirely framed of wood. Nearly all this work, especially at Chichester, is badly obscured by the flooring over of later times.
The hall of this Tarring house is by far the most interesting chamber of the interior, though it is worthy of remark that it does not appear to have been provided with any fire place. The rafters are not blackened nor is there any trace of a central hearth having existed on the floor. Though the existing chimneys are later it seems likely that they occupy the original positions, and that the upper and lower side room at either side were always provided with fire places instead of the hall. The framing of the roof, though very rough, is of the usual form. Each pair of rafters is pegged together at the ridge and stiffened by a collar. The cambered tie-beams rest upon the wall plates and the central one supports a king-post with purlin extending along under the collars. The hall has the usual two bays, but it is extremely small, only about 19 ft. by 11 1/2 ft. As is usual the bays are not quite equal in length. The original entrance was from the upper south room by a doorway near the east end of its south side. The hinge staples may still be seen. The plan shows the original framing of the upper floor in black, the hall and the chamber on its north overhanging the pavement. The timber beams of the framing appear in most of the rooms. The back has been extended, probably in the seventeenth century, and this portion, though mainly framed of timber, has patched walls of brickwork, stone and flint in rather picturesque confusion. The only large chamber con-tinues the lines of the hall. While Sussex is very rich in timber-framed houses of about the same period, the present building is quite unusual as to its planning. Normally there is just a hall open to the rafters and at one end the solar having a chamber below and a loft in the roof above. From
Sussex Archaeological Collections LXXIV,
1933
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