NHER 69513 (Monument record) - Site of 18th-century cottage (Albemar)

Site of Albemar– a cottage shown on the Castle Acre Tithe map of 1840 (S1).

December 2013 and October 2016. Photography Survey.
Survey of Albemar ahead of its proposed demolition.
This single, two-storey cottage with lean-to has cement-rendered brick walls, a pantile roof and gable chimney stacks. Its three-bay plan was altered in the 20th century (possibly in around 1915, when nearby Rose Cottages are known to have been extended - see NHER 69512), with an internal ground floor dividing wall removed. The original staircase was probably removed at the same time. The floor frame survives, showing the principal cross beams running north-to-south and the joists. The principal beams are crudely cut and never intended to be displayed – the ceiling originally being covered with lime plaster. The former kitchen on the ground floor retains its red brick fireplace against the roadside gable wall. This fireplace and the floor frame appear to date to the 18th century. The west ground floor room (now open plan with the middle room) has the remains of a fireplace and two adjacent arched niches. On the north side of the ground floor there are rooms with a lean-to, including a former back kitchen (leading off the original main kitchen) that contains a fireplace and a bread oven with cast iron door. This room also appears to date to the 18th century. The bedroom above the parlour had a fireplace (now removed) but the eastern bedroom above the kitchen appears to have been unheated. At some time the lean-to was heightened (truncating the chimney stack associated with the bread oven), creating first floor rooms at each gable end, linked by a small box room.
The roof (visible through a trapdoor in the eastern main bedroom) consists largely of modern sawn timbers. The red brick stack on the west gable could be seen, flanked by walls of flint rubble.
See report (S2) for further details, including floor plans. See also digital photo archive (S3).
P. Watkins (HES), 9 October 2025.

This building has now been demolished.
P. Watkins (HES), 9 October 2025.