Becontree House

Becontree House is a mid-18th century house, later altered in the 19th and 20th centuries, located on King Street in Lancaster. It is now used as a shop and dwelling. The building is constructed of coursed squared sandstone rubble with ashlar dressings and chamfered quoins, and has a composition tile roof. It has a double-depth, two-unit plan with a through-passage on the right-hand side. The house is three storeys high with a cellar and attic, and originally had four bays.

The ground floor has an altered doorway at the right-hand end, featuring rusticated quoins on the left jamb and a wrought-iron gate to the passage, which has two doorways in its left side. To the left of the doorway is a row of four windows with moulded architraves; the glazing has been altered. The upper floors each have four windows arranged in pairs, with moulded architraves - the first-floor windows are sash windows without glazing bars, and the upper windows have two-pane upper sashes. A low, flat-roofed dormer has been inserted into the roof, and there are gable chimneys.

At the rear of the house, a large, central, round-headed stair-window with a keystone is mostly blocked, with later windows inserted in its place; other rear windows have been altered. The interior includes a dogleg staircase with an open string, carved scrolled brackets, fluted rectangular newels, two slim turned balusters per tread, a ramped and moulded handrail, and a rectangular stone fireplace with a fan-shaped keystone.