Whitefriar or Akrill's Court is a 16th century

timber-framed Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden ...

building in Lincoln. It now has a late 20th century shop front, but the timber-framed building survives with the southern front facing the narrow Akrill’s passage, on the east side of the High Street and just to the south of the railway crossing.

History

Surprisingly little is known about this building. The name Akrill refers to a baker who owned the property in the early part of the 19th century. Padley, who made scaled drawings of the buildings in 1851, said that traditionally it was thought to be part of the White or

Carmelite , image = , caption = Coat of arms of the Carmelites , abbreviation = OCarm , formation = Late 12th century , founder = Early hermits of Mount Carmel , founding_location = Mount Car ...

Friary in Lincoln. Adjacent to it at the east end was a small stone building with a

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

arch. As the Carmelite friary has now been shown by archaeological excavation to have been under St Mark's Station, on the opposite side of the High Street, it is unlikely that the building was associated with the friary. It has been alternatively suggested that the Whitefriars was the half-timbered

vicarage A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or ministers of religion. Residences of this type can have a variety of names, such as manse, parsonage, rectory or vicarage. Function A clergy house is typically own ...

St Mary le Wigford St Mary le Wigford is a Grade I listed parish church in Lincoln, England. History The church dates from the 11th century, with 12th and 13th century additions. The dedication stone in the west tower is a re-used Roman tombstone with a later A ...

church, but there is documentary evidence that in 1563 it was owned by Arthur Hall, an important Grantham merchant – this appears to be the same Arthur Hall who was the MP for Grantham. The building may have been a speculative commercial venture, attracting superior tenants who would sell from the ground floor chamber and live with their family on the first floor. Restoration work was undertaken to the building in 1963.

Description

Originally a house dating from the 15th century. The facade faces to the south in a narrow alley-way and the building is at a right angle to the High Street. It has a

close studded Close studding is a form of timber work used in timber-framed buildings in which vertical timbers ( studs) are set close together, dividing the wall into narrow panels. Rather than being a structural feature, the primary aim of close studding is to ...

timber frame Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden ...

of four bays with rendered nogging and a plain tile roof. The first floor is

jettied Jettying (jetty, jutty, from Old French ''getee, jette'') 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 availa ...

and is coved (curved) outwards with eaves above. South side has moulded uprights. Above, two square wooden oriels on moulded brackets and a 4-light window with wooden mullions and gothic tracery The interior has stud walls with jowled bay posts, two of them with arch braces, and arch braces to the spine beams. Principal rafter roof with collars and spine beam. Two stud walls without nogging.British Listed Buildings
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Literature

*Antram N (revised), Pevsner N & Harris J, (1989), ''The Buildings of England: Lincolnshire'', Yale University Press. pg 525. *Padley J.S. (1851) ''Selections from the ancient monastic ecclesiastical and domestic edifices of Lincolnshire'', Lincol

*Stocker D. (ed) (2016), ''Vernacular Architecture Group, Spring Conference 2016: Lincolnshire, March 29th to April 1st 2016'', Society for Lincolnshire History and Archaeology.

References

{{reflist

''See also - Medieval Domestic Architecture in Lincoln''

John of Gaunt’s Palace, Lincoln John of Gaunt's Palace was a late 14th-century merchant's house which stood in the lower part of Lincoln High Street, opposite the St Mary Guildhall. It was progressively demolished from the late 18th century until the 1960s. The very fine oriel ...

Buildings and structures in Lincoln, England Houses in Lincolnshire