133. FENNY STRATFORD.
(O.S. 6 in. xv. S.W.)
Ecclesiastical
(1). Parish Church of St. Martin, stands
in the middle of the town. The church built in
1726 is now incorporated in a large modern church
as the N. aisle.
Some old glass in one of the windows is noteworthy.
Fittings—Glass: In N. aisle—in three lights
of N.W. window, fragments, of various designs
including a crown, foliage, heads of a Roman soldier
and of a woman, and a lozenge with the initials
'W.R.', also two shields (surrounded by strap-work
and other ornament), Fortescue (4 quarters) impaling Stonor (13 quarters) and Fortescue, impaling
Boleyn (6 quarters), all 17th-century, rest of glass
in lights, 18th-century.
Condition—Good.
Secular
(2). Fish-pond or reservoir, near the site of
an old house, about 900 yards S.E. of the church,
with strong retaining banks.
Condition—Good, but now dry.
(3). House and Storehouses (of a former
brewery), on the S. side of Watling Street, 40
yards E. of the church, were probably originally
one building. The walls are of timber and brick;
the roofs are tiled. The house, formerly an inn,
is now disused, except a covered gateway at the
W. end, which forms part of the Bull Hotel and
opens into a courtyard at the back of the hotel.
A room over the gateway has an arched truss in
the roof, indicating a 15th-century origin. The
storehouses are of L-shaped plan; the shorter
wing, on the S. side of the courtyard, projects
towards the W., and is probably of 16th-century
or earlier date; the longer wing, on the E. side
of the courtyard, projects towards the N., and
is of the 17th century; at the N. end it is connected
with the house by a modern building. The room
over the gateway has walls of old timber and brick,
and E. of it is a chimney stack with square shafts
set diagonally, built probably of early 17th-century
brick; the rest of the house has been altered; at
the E. end is a gable covered with plaster. On
the N. and S. sides of the W. wing of the storehouses, the upper storey is timber-framed with
brick filling; the lower storey and the E. end
are of modern brick; the W. end is timber-framed.
The E. and W. walls of the N. wing are timber-framed, each of five bays, with modern brick
filling and with modern boarding over the timbers;
in each bay of the W. wall is the blocked opening
of an original window, apparently of three lights.
Interior:—In the room over the gateway is an
old fireplace, partly blocked. Below the ceiling
are the braced hammer-beam and wall-posts of an
original roof-truss; the upper part of the truss,
with an arched collar-beam, is accessible through
a trap door in the ceiling; the principals are
cut away above the collar-beams, and the roof is
now gabled at right angles to the truss. The W.
wing of the storehouses has, at the E. end of the
ground floor, old ceiling-beams with diagonal
beams running into the angles; at the N.E. corner
is an original angle-post with a moulded capital;
it partly supports a moulded bressumer, showing
that the upper storey formerly projected at the
E. end; timbers indicating a similar projection on
the N. side are also visible. The upper storey is
divided into four bays by the queen-post trusses
of the roof; the S. wall of the second bay from the
E. end contains a number of circular stones, about
1 ft. in diameter by 1¾ in. thick, of uncertain
origin. The N. wing has, on the ground floor,
original ceiling-beams; the W. wall is partly
timber-framed, with posts apparently of earlier
date than the rest of the walling; near the S. end
is a blocked doorway with a moulded post, and
further N. in the same wall is another moulded
post, both apparently of early 16th-century date.
The upper storey is divided into five bays by the
roof-trusses, of queen-post form; the middle truss
is of late 15th or early 16th-century date, older
and better constructed than the others, and has a
cambered and moulded tie-beam with curved
struts. In the W. wall are visible the wood frames
of the 17th-century windows. At the S. end is
the framing of an old partition. On the W. wall
of the northernmost bay is part of a painted
plaster frieze, of the 17th century, representing
a cat and fiddle, birds and foliage.
Condition—Fairly good.
Aylesbury Street, W. side
(4). 'The Bazaar' (see Plate, p. 74), originally
a farmhouse, now shops, is of two storeys with
basement and attic, built of timber and brick in
the 17th century, but now entirely covered with
cement and much altered. The only original
details now visible externally are two chimney
stacks of thin bricks and a dormer window of four
lights; the central stack has eight square shafts,
some of them 'dummies', set diagonally on a
square base with three rectangular panels on each
side; the shafts are moulded and have oversailing
moulded courses; the S. stack is similar to the
other, and has four shafts on an L-shaped base.
Interior:—In the basement are some old
chamfered beams. The large fireplaces now
boarded up are visible in the shops.
Condition—Good; much altered.
(5). Cottages, a range of six, 250 yards S.S.W.
of the church, are of two storeys, built in the
17th century; the three southern cottages are
apparently of earlier date than the others. The
roofs are thatched. At the back the walls retain
the original timber-framing and most of the
wattle-and-daub filling, but in front the filling
is of 18th-century and modern brick, and two
cottages have been entirely re-fronted with brick.
Interiors:—The ceiling-beams of the ground
floor and the timbers of the roofs, with purlins
and wind-braces, are visible.
Condition—Poor.