The Romden Hall House is a Wealden type which is vernacular medieval timber-framed hall house traditional in the south east of England. It is located in Smarden , Londo

2. 01
The Romden Hall
House is Timber framed
with rendered infill and a
steeply pitched thatched
roof. It has wooden
window frames with
diamond mullions. The
cottage is of rendered
brick with tile hanging and
a tiled roof with a brick
chimney stack.
MATERIALS
This fine medieval farmhouse, devastated by the October storm of 1987. Following hurricane damage in
1987 the building was restored and re-erected on this new site between 1999 and 2003.
The building is of the “Wealden” type, which in its original form comprised a two-bay open hall on both
ends by jettied wings. A continuous thatched roof, hipped at both ends produces the characteristic appearance of a
recessed hall common to these buildings.
The Romden Hall
House is probably built by the
Guldeford family.
It seems likely
that the Romden Hall House
was built during the first half of
the fifteenth century by the
Guldeford family who owned the
land and much of the
surrounding countryside.
INTRODUCTION

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BUILDING COMPONENTS
The Romden Hall House comprises
an unequally spaced two-bay open hall with a
cross passage between the hall, a two-storey
singlebay service wing to the west, and a
separately framed two-storey, two-bay solar wing
to the east. The cottage is of two bays, the
chimney stack heating two ground floor rooms, and
with a catslide outshot to the west.
PLAN
The principle post are connected to floor and slab by Mitred Bridle Return Joints. And the upper walls are
connected to floor by Counter Bridled Mitre Joints.
The high end of the hall, to the north-west, is distinguished by a finely moulded and castellated dais beam
All the longitudinal elements of the hall (eaves-plates and collar-purlin) are joined directly over this truss, using edge-
halved scarfs with bridled abutments

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The two-bay hall remained open to the roof, heated only by a central hearth. Gothic style arch-
braces and cambered tiebeam, embellished throughout with cavetto mouldings, constitute the open truss which
subdivides the high and low bays of the hall.
A fully braced crown-post of octagonal section with moulded base and capital forms the centrepiece
of the hall. The main entrance, incorporating an arched door head, gave on to a cross passage occupying the
south-east limit of the hall. The service wing, jettied to the front, adjoins the south-east limit of the hall. Windows
are centrally-placed on all three elevations.

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STRUCTURE TYPE
The Romden Hall House is a Wealden type which is vernacular medieval timber-framed hall
house traditional in the south east of England. Typically built for a yeoman, it is most common in Kent and the east
of Sussex but has also been built elsewhere. The original floor plan usually had four bays with the two central ones
forming the main hall open to the roof with the hearth in the middle and two doors to the outside at one end forming
a cross passage. The upper stories on both ends typically extended beyond the lower outer wall being jettied on at
least one side of the building. As the main hall had no upper floor the outer wall ran straight up without jettying, and
thus the central bays appeared recessed.
SUPPORTING THE ROOF
This crown post has
four concave up braces, joining it
firmly to both the crown plate and
the collar. Each timber was attached
with mortice and tenon joints
secured with wooden pins.
Curved and diagonal
beams, often called braces, are very
important in roof structures. If two
beams are joined at right angles they
do not form a strong unit the addition
of a diagonal brace solves this
problem.
In a traditionally
framed wooden truss of this type
spanning 20ft if Tie beam - 4"X8“,
Purlin 4"X7“.
The roof covering itself is attached to timbers called rafters, but these are not usually sufficiently strong
to support a wide enough roof. The roof either sags or the strain of the weight above pushes the side walls of the
building apart. To compensate for this, various systems
The Crown Post and Collar Purlin Roof is used in Romden Hall House. The crown post supports a
beam, the crown plate, which runs the whole length of the roof. The crown plate in turn supports the collars, shorter
beams running across the roof.

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DRAGON BEAM
The Dragon beam is a
horizontal, diagonal beam in the corners of
some traditional timber framed buildings.
The term is commonly used in both hip
roof framing and jettying.
JETTY
The Jettying is a building technique
used in medieval timber-frame buildings in which an
upper floor projects beyond the dimensions of the
floor below. This has the advantage of increasing
the available space in the building without
obstructing the street. Jettied floors are also
termed jetties.
A jetty is an upper floor that depends
on a cantilever system in which a horizontal beam,
the jetty bressummer, supports the wall above and
projects forward beyond the floor below itself rests
on the ends of a row of jetty beams or joists which
are supported by jetty plates. Jetty joists in their turn
were slotted sideways into the diagonal dragon
beams at angle of 45° by means of mortise and
tenon joints. The overhanging corner posts are often
reinforced by curved jetty brackets.

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DOUBLE EAVES PLATE ASSEMBLY
HALL CROWN POST & COLLAR PURLIN ASSEMBLY
SOURCE
www.canterburytrust.co.uk
www.historicengland.org.uk
www.dbrg.org.uk
www.buildingarchaeology.co.uk
Buildings of England. Kent. West and the Weald By John Newman
Eyewitness Guide : Building By Philip Wilkinson
Building Recording By Rupert Austin
Traditional Kent Buildings By Jane Wade
Recording Key Building Features By BARD
Conservation Of Historic Timber Structures By Knut Einar Larsen