HETHERSETT WEB

The only remaining thatched dwelling in Hethersett is approached by a drive which dips and rises again where it crosses the path of the ditch once surrounding the green. It was originally a sixteenth-century timber-framed open hall house built end on to the green's north side and is now one and a half storeys with attics over. The roof is straw thatched and the dormers at the front are with pantiles which also cover the lean-to extension. Window casements have their original pintle hinges. The upper floor, chimney stack and probably the dormers were inserted early in the seventeenth century. A modern lean-to loggia runs along the east side.

Inside there is much exposed timber stud work, beams, collars, purlins and braces showing give-away signs of its open hall origins. Considerable restoration has been undertaken recently. Internal doors are ledged and braced with some dating from the eighteenth century.

The outline of the strip of land which went with the early house can be seen extending northwards to Grove Road and after enclosure southwards to Lynch Green. Today it stands in about half an acre with a well and pump and an interesting millstone set in the threshold of the front entrance.

This millstone forms a doorstep. It came from Cologne, a Cullen stone, is three feet in diameter, four inches thick and was clockwise turning and could have come from a local windmill.