ME AND MY LISTED HOUSE


doubt also have been places to stay in Roman times, when the road was part of the gridiron street pattern of the settlement. So although Dorchester today is far better known as the principal setting for ITV’s ‘Midsomer Murders’ detective drama, historically it was an important staging post on the main road from Oxford to London.


Sometime in the early 18th century the rear extension, now the sitting room, was added. Malcolm has speculated about this a great deal. He has come to the conclusion that it was originally a single-storey outbuilding. “The ceiling joists in the rear and middle sections are very different and indicate to me that they are of different periods,” he said. “I think it likely that the rear addition was originally detached from the main building and the gap filled in later. The rear room may have been used at some stage as a kitchen.”


All this underlines the point Malcolm is keen to make – that virtually all old houses have been altered and adapted over the years in order to suit the owners at the time.


There was a further major adaptation, probably at the beginning of the 18th century, when the open hall arrangement was replaced by a large chimney stack between the two units that form the present house. This formed a ‘lobby entrance’ which still exists as you enter, although the eye is somewhat distracted by the books (Malcolm believes there are more than 5000 in the house) that line the walls of the room you are ushered into, which serves as his study.


“We have done an awful lot over the years,” Megan said. “At the outset it took the two of us two years to strip nearly all the beams by hand. Previously they had been black. “And of course houses as old as this, which have been constantly altered and adapted over hundreds of years, take a lot of work to maintain and live in.


“We might perhaps have found somewhere bigger and grander with a driveway and a garage, but nearly 30 years ago we demolished an old garden shed and erected a modern structure with a WC, utility and laundry rooms and a workshop for Malcolm. This helps our living arrangements a lot. If we want a shower we have to take a short walk up the garden there for it. But in winter we stick to baths and stay in the house!


“All old houses have their inconveniences. But we regret none of it. We love it all. We are very lucky to live here. Someone will finally have to crowbar us out!”


116 Listed Heritage Magazine January/February 2020


Malcolm is very keen on all the internal doors in the house. Most of them were there when they arrived and, although not original, are nearly all three-panelled, quite old, and well worth caring for. Several possess interesting door furniture and other features, like the one seen here, in which the holes were almost certainly a means of ventilation


The house from the front. The render dates from 1992. The front facade receives a fresh coat of limewash about every two years


Malcolm and Megan


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