Oakleigh House
16 Market Place
No. 20 was built between 1740 and 1750 and the 1839 map indicates that it was either built as, or became, the bank and manager accommodation of the Day family who lived next door at no.18 and owned and occupied both sites.
The brothers Thomas, Henry and William Day founded a bank first in Norwich and then in Swaffham by 1795 which was managed by Henry.
Grade II Listed
Although the bank failed in 1826 the Swaffham buildings remained with Henry until they were bought by John Aldiss in 1895 who first leased the property and then sold it to the trustees of the Nicholas Hamond Grammar School which had been located on Campingland since 1736 as a Free School.
The date stone on the wall was repositioned here when the school moved to the Market Place in 1896 and is the date when the original school on Campingland opened.
From 1896 the two buildings were adapted and extended for use as a revitalised Grammar School and a headmaster’s house).
After the High School was built on Brandon Road this building was first used as the school’s VIForm Centre and eventually closed in 2009.
It then became an Antiques Centre but has now been for sale for some time.
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