Fascinating story behind Gorleston’s oldest house
Gorleston's oldest house has been honoured with a blue plaque Photo: Liz Coates - Credit: Archant
Built a bewildering 500 years ago the oldest house in Gorleston is still at the cutting edge of local life - as a hairdressers.
But hundreds of years ago it was at the hub of local democracy as the town's Guildhall.
Number 33 Baker Street made history in the 1990s as the first building rescue to create a shop and, crucially, a home upstairs - the rental paying for its ongoing upkeep.
The model is now used nationwide and successfully multiple times in Great Yarmouth where the borough's Preservation Trust is busy guaranteeing the future of historic buildings.
This week its status as officially the oldest house in Gorleston (only the parish church is older) was applauded with the fixing of a blue plaque.
Members of GOSH (Gorleston-on-Sea Heritage Group) gathered for the unveiling in the busy street, chairman Les Cockrill competing with traffic noise to get his voice heard.
He said the building was once in a prime location on a important thoroughfare sweeping from the parish church to the quay, taking in a smattering of manor houses.