Architectural curiosity: the ‘crinkle crankle’ wall
Ruth Warnes MRICS, Associate Partner at Fenn Wright, gives us an insight into her role as a Valuation Surveyor and shares her experience of working in Suffolk.
In the world of property valuations, you will hear the phrase ‘no two days are ever the same’ and that really is the truth. As a valuer, I travel around the counties of East Anglia on a daily basis, and whilst you know you are heading to either a commercial premises or a residential dwelling, sometimes it’s the quirky things that you remember most about a property.
I am lucky enough to value a variety of high value residential properties, ranging from new build mansions to Grade II* Listed manor houses – I really don’t have a preference. Some valuers may favour the old-world charm of a timber framed house, but for me every property has its own fascinating story to tell; Who built it? Who may have lived in it previously? What could have been on the site historically? My visit is only a brief snapshot in a moment of time.
Here in East Anglia, we are blessed with a multitude of historic properties and the one of my favourite quirks is the ‘crinkle crankle’ wall – which can best be described as an unusual type of garden wall, which is wavy with alternating convex and concave curves. This unique type of wall has several other names, including serpentine, ribbon, snake or wavy wall – but in our region it is definitely known as a ‘crinkle crankle’ wall.
Suffolk is reputed to have twice as many examples than the rest of the country, with the first walls thought to have appeared in East Anglia in the 17th Century, when Dutch engineers were draining the marshes of the Fens. Surprisingly, they use fewer bricks than a straight wall and the design was often employed in response to the Brick Tax, which was introduced in 1784 and abolished in 1850.
One of the longest ‘crinkle crankle’ walls in the world can be found in Easton, to the south of Framlingham, which at its prime stretched some two and a half miles long.
So next time you are driving through the East Anglian countryside and come across a wall that appears to have been built by someone who couldn’t see straight, the chances are it’s a ‘crinkle crankle’ wall!
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