Wealden Times | WT182 | April 2017 | Gardens supplement inside

Previous page: The hall curtains were made from fabric bought
from Bell House Fabrics & Interiors in Cranbrook and sewn by
LilyMatthews This page: The gun above the fireplace is from
Saudi Arabia, it’s a Bedouin Tribal Rifle
room and living room area – acts as a formal dining room
and was painted in a striking pillarbox red by Jane’s father.
It is smaller, darker and with a lower ceiling than the other
rooms and, despite Jane’s assurance that the house does not
have any unusual spirits, the room is strikingly cold. Perhaps
my childish imagination is getting the better of me?
We proceed to the front of the house, where the couple
have created an unusual but effective downstairs washroom.
“This wall here,” says Jane, “would have been part of the
‘solar’ in the original hall house, with sliding screens that
opened into the main hall and cooking / social area.” You
can still see where the sliding doors would have fitted.
Typically, a Wealden hall house, or yeoman farmer’s house,
would have had four bays with the two central ones forming
the main hall, open to the roof, with the hearth in the middle.
There would also have been two doors to the outside, at one
end, forming a cross passage. The open hearth would later
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