Modern decorative pargeting - designs and patterns stamped in wet plaster - on the ground floor Prentice Street facade of Brett House, timber-framed former cottages and a warehouse built in the 1400s or 1500s in the prosperous wool and cloth town of Lavenham, Suffolk, England, UK.
Lavenham, Suffolk, England, UK: Brett House, built in the 1400s or 1500s on the north side of Prentice Street, displays a modern example of the ancient East Anglian decorative art and craft of pargeting, with patterns stamped on its plastered lower facade. Pargeting or pargetting involves pressing decorative designs in relief on wet plaster applied to an outside wall, particularly between the timbers or studwork of half-timbered houses. The technique was used chiefly in Suffolk and Essex and also in Norfolk, where it was known as ‘pinking’. Some pargetted designs - like those on Brett House - are repeating abstract patterns, but historically, many featured human figures, birds, foliage and other designs. Brett House, at 25 Prentice Street, is a restored timber-framed and plastered house that was probably once called Woolstaplers. Its east end, including the front door and facade to the right of it, was once a cottage or cottages, while the west end still features a loft entrance door from its days as a warehouse. The timber framing is exposed on the upper floor, but the ground floor, built out in brick, is now plastered and decorated with modern pargetted patterns. Brett House, one of many timber-framed dwellings built in the prosperous former wool and cloth town in the 15th and 16th centuries, is Grade II Listed as of special architectural or historical interest. More than 300 properties in Lavenham have Listed Building status, with most of its ancient hall houses built for the merchants who helped to turn it into one of England’s most prosperous towns.
Size: 4256px × 2832px
Location: Lavenham, Suffolk, England, UK.
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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