A lovely, timber-framed sixteenth century building, with two gabled dormers, ornamental barge boards, and a cat-slide roof. Sixty years ago it was a dairy farm, belonging to the Gamblen family who owned all the houses and land on this side of the road from Ivy Bank (now demolished and redeveloped) above the Old Post Office to here. It has changed hands frequently during the years, and is reputedly haunted by a very benevolent spirit.
During the Second World War it was used as a Canadian officers’ quarters, and one of them recalls an amusing incident: “We would keep our beer supply cool at the bottom of the well in our yard. The beer was put in a pail and lowered about thirty feet into very cold water. Unfortunately, one day the pail tipped over and we lost two dozen very scarce and very precious bottles. A scheme was devised where I was to be lowered into the well to retrieve the treasure. Sadly, when I was half way down, the wire broke and I landed in the cold water which was about five feet deep, and it was absolutely pitch dark. Other than being surprised, I was unhurt. My fellow conspirators were quite concerned about my well-being (no pun intended). A quick search failed to turn up a ladder long enough or any other suitable piece of equipment that could be used to extricate me from my predicament. One would have thought that a first class Canadian Regiment would provide the necessary tools to solve the problem, but my friends devised the bright idea to call in the local branch of the Home Guard, who rescued me in no time; cold, wet, without the beer, but otherwise unharmed.”
recorded in the Domesday book, web enabled since 1997