Broad Street offers several specific ways to discover architectural history and archaeological traces. Broad Street Farmhouse is a Grade II listed building. The house at 1, 2 and 3 Pilgrims Cottages on Broad Street is also Grade II listed. Timber-framed houses provide further information about building dates; small finds in the surrounding area point to an Anglo-Saxon cemetery. Different ways of exploring history come together here: the listing of individual houses, their construction, and archaeological evidence.
Listed Houses
Broad Street Farmhouse and Pilgrims Cottages share their Grade II listing. This identifies both as listed houses, but does not in itself say when they were built. The individual building descriptions are therefore more informative for comparison: they range from timber framing dating to the early 16th century or earlier to buildings from later centuries. The designations and dates answer different questions and are best considered separately.
Timber Framing and Different Building Periods
Brushings Farmhouse is a timber-framed house dating to the early 16th century or earlier. Its described features include exposed studs and plaster infill. The studs are the visible wooden elements of the timber frame; the plaster infill fills the spaces between them. The building description therefore gives not only an early date but also specific details of its construction. Distinguishing between the date and the building style helps avoid reducing the individual examples to a single feature.
The Old House is also timber-framed, but dates to the mid-16th century. Brushings Cottage is dated to the 17th century or earlier. These dates vary in how precisely they are stated: The Old House is dated to the mid-16th century, while the phrase “or earlier” leaves open the possibility of an earlier origin for Brushings Farmhouse and Brushings Cottage.
Wayfarers dates from the late 17th or early 18th century and has been altered since. This adds two aspects to the comparison: a date at the transition between these centuries and the information that the building was altered later. Unlike the timber-framed houses mentioned above, no construction style is specified here; the date and later alterations are the focus.
Archaeological Evidence and Walking
Several small finds in the area around Broad Street offer another glimpse into the past. They point to an Anglo-Saxon cemetery.
As another activity, a walking route leads to a marker on the North Downs Way. Check local path conditions before setting out.
If you are particularly interested in architectural history, you can organise the examples around three questions: Which houses are Grade II listed, what building dates are given, and where are specific timber-framing details described? For Brushings Farmhouse, both the early date and the studs and plaster infill are specified; for The Old House and Brushings Cottage, the dates are the main focus. Wayfarers adds its history of later alterations to the comparison. This gives you several different points of reference without assigning the buildings to a single period or style of construction.
Discover more destinations: Wateringbury, Hunton, Lenham, Birchington, Yalding, Headcorn, Swingfield, Sandgate.
For the broader travel guide: Kent.
