History of the House
The current house is part of a roughly 400 year old building which has recently been restored using traditional building techniques and a blend of old and new fixings and fixtures. We even managed to salvage some original 1950's kitchen units to compliment the modern kitchen. We think you'll agree that it is a quirky little house with a lot of character...
Just how old is it?
There is some suggestion that the house may be even older, as it looks like the chimney is not original to the property but was a later edition. We found an earlier fireplace marked by edging stones in what would have been the centre of the main room prior to the chimney being built.
We also found evidence of the height of the walls being raised, suggesting the original roof line was much lower.
The house was originally twice it's current size - it was divided into smaller properties in the victorian age - based on the dates on the deeds we have.
Based on the position of the original firepit it is possible that the house was originally a hall house, with an open space in the roof for the smoke to escape on one side and an upper floor on the other side (now part of next door).
If you're interested in old architecture the Weald and Downland Open Air Museam has an interesting website.
https://www.wealddown.co.uk/
So, who lived here?
We don't know a lot about the former inhabitants, although the ones living here 400 years ago did seem to get through a lot of musket balls! Brading was a favourite location for smuggling before the harbour was blocked off and silted up when the railway was built.
You can read a bit more about the history of Brading Town on the residents association website:
https://www.bragiow.co.uk/about-brading/
A Smugglers Den?
Back then the smugglers use to build tunnels from under their houses up to the downs behind Brading. In fact there is a house just down the road from the Moth House which still has a tunnel in the basement! There is no tunnel underneath the Moth House (we know, because we checked) but the house does sit right on the chalk ridge. We did find a lot of musket balls under the floor though, so was it a smugglers hide-out or a Customs stake-out trying to catch them? We'll probably never know...
The Brading Community Archives
The Brading Archives may give us some more information (when we get round to looking) but it's a good source of local history for anyone that is interested. You can view the digitised parts of the archive here:
https://www.bradingcommunityarchive.com/