108 AND 110, HIGH STREET

This is a house built in the early 18th century, with alterations made in the mid- to late-19th century and renovations around 1983-84. It is located on the north-east side of High Street, Epworth. The building is constructed of brick, rendered in some areas, and has a pantile roof. It follows an L-shaped plan, comprising a two-room central lobby-entry south wing, a two-room, central entrance-hall east wing, and a later kitchen wing at the rear.

The south front is symmetrical, with three bays. The entrance features a 19th-century doorcase, including pilasters, an entablature, and a hood, sheltering a six-fielded-panel door. Contemporary wooden canted bay windows flank the entrance, each with four-pane sash windows, matching entablatures with moulded cornices, hoods, and hipped roofs. The first floor has four-pane sash windows in earlier, flush wooden architraves. A dentilled brick eaves cornice runs along the top of the front. The roof is hipped on the right side. A large axial stack is a prominent feature.

The east return front has a 20th-century glazed door, flanked by two 20th-century French windows to the right and a four-pane sash window to the left. The first-floor sashes and eaves cornice are similar to those on the south front. A projecting end stack is present on the right gable end.

The west return has a four-pane sliding sash window to the stairwell, a 12-pane sash window on the first floor, and an attic board door with strap hinges. The kitchen addition features a large 16-pane sash window, a small 20th-century casement to the ground floor, a pair of 20th-century casements to the first floor, and a dentilled brick eaves cornice with an end stack.

Inside, the east entrance hall contains a well-preserved early 18th-century open-well staircase. The staircase has a heavy ramped corniced handrail, mitred over the newel posts, a corniced string, column-on-vase balusters with round knops, and a column foot-newel post. The staircase framework incorporates heavy oak timbers. A narrow entrance passage runs through the base of the stack. Rooms on each side retain original fireplaces: one to the left includes an inglenook beneath a chamfered oak bressumer, and one to the right has an inserted basket arch beneath an oak bressumer formed from a section of a former timber frame. The main south and east rooms on both floors have chamfered oak spine beams; those on the ground floor have cyma stops. Original two-fielded-panel doors with H and L hinges are also present. The roof retains original timbers. The small 19th-century shop adjoining to the south-east is not included in this listing.