Friday 9 April 2010

Building Mystery

I’m researching a 15th century house in West Sussex. So right now I am in Chichester at the West Sussex Record office. The timber-framed building has all the evidence of having been a medieval hall but with a “modern” extension  ie 16th  century in limestone.
The records have revealed an estate map of 1783 which shows the building at its height with a limestone quadrangle, which is now sadly reduced to 2 sides. Victorian maps show it greatly reduced.
Now I have to find who lived there before 1566 and therefore when the oldest part of the building was constructed. But I also need to find out why most of the Elizabethan stone extension disappeared in the early 19th century.   
I'll keep you posted!