13/15, NORTHGATE

Nos. 13 and 15 Northgate is a house that likely dates in part from the late 16th century or early 17th century, but much of its front is from the mid-19th century. It features a single-storey hall and a cross-wing. The hall is rendered at the front, while the rear is made of large dressed stone. The two-storey wing on the left is constructed of hammer-dressed stone and has a gabled roof with tall single windows that have plain stone surrounds on each floor. The right-hand return wall has a former doorway with monolithic jambs, which is now a window. The hall range has two doorways, one of which is now a window, while the other has the date "1678" set in the render above the lintel.

At the rear of the hall, there is a 5-light chamfered mullioned window, although it is missing three mullions, located to the left of the doorway with monolithic jamb and heavy lintel, which now forms a small window. There is also a former 3-light square flat-faced mullioned window with slightly recessed mullions, one of which has been opened to create a small doorway. The building has a low sweeping roof with a central stack that has characteristics from the 18th century. The wing has a similar stack and retains large dressed stonework, indicating that it is an original feature, although it was raised and altered in the mid-19th century, featuring two windows on the ground floor and a former taking-in door on the first floor, which now has a sashed window with tie-stone jambs.

Inside, the hall has a reused post as a wall plate with a heavily jowled head and sawn-off tenons for braces to the tie-beam and arcade plate. There is a simple 18th-century fireplace with monolithic jambs and a flat arched lintel. The earlier roofline of the aisled hall on the adjoining building (No. 17) is mainly from the 19th century and is of little interest. The property is adjacent to Whitehall and a gateway with a lintel dated 1578. Despite significant alterations in the 19th century and being disguised by render in the mid-20th century, this house remains an important and rare surviving open hall-house in the center of the village, with substantial evidence of its original aisled and timber-framed construction.