History
It is not known when Kirkham House was built, although the design suggests that it is of 14th or 15th century origin. It has been called "The Priest's House", suggesting a link with the church, but it may have been built as the residence of a prosperous local tradesman. The ground floor of the house consists of a parlour and a large vaulted hall that would have been used for entertaining guests, while the first floor has a gallery and three bedchambers. The kitchen was an outbuilding that exists today only as a few ruined walls, and there is a small garden adjacent to the house.
Mrs Ada Frances Jennings bequeathed the house to the nation in 1960, together with a sum of money for its repair. The stone and plasterwork have been extensively renovated, but many of the original oak beams and carvings can still be seen. The building contains reproduction furniture and tapestries in the medieval style.
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Exterior of Kirkham House, eastern aspect -
Exterior of Kirkham House, northern aspect -
First floor bedchamber, named the Best Chamber
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“I am ashamed to see what a shallow village tale our so-called History is. How many times must we say Rome, and Paris, and Constantinople! What does Rome know of rat and lizard? What are Olympiads and Consulates to these neighboring systems of being? Nay, what food or experience or succor have they for the Esquimaux seal-hunter, or the Kanaka in his canoe, for the fisherman, the stevedore, the porter?”
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“Let it suffice that in the light of these two facts, namely, that the mind is One, and that nature is its correlative, history is to be read and written.”
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