16, Market Place

This is a shop with domestic accommodation above, dating to the mid-16th century, with a late 18th or early 19th century façade and 19th and 20th century alterations. The front of the building features a red brick façade and a parapetted roof. The rear wings are timber-framed, stuccoed, and have a plain tiled roof. A brick stack is visible on the main roof. The front elevation is three storeys high, while the rear has two storeys and an attic. There is a two-window range on the front first floor, with 1/1 sash windows under stucco lintels, and more recent windows above. A 20th-century shop front occupies the ground floor. An alleyway to the right provides access to a rear entrance with a panelled door and overlight. The whitewashed interior walls reveal heavy, large-panel framing. The rear wing’s north-west facing wall displays square panel framing set within herringbone brick nogging. The rear elevation includes various casements and a truncated brick stack.

The shop interior has been opened out and fitted with 20th-century fixtures, but retains chamfered bridging beams and a corner post visible in the alley wall. The front room on the first floor shows areas of heavy scantling framing, some close-studded, some square-panel, with one panel featuring diagonal studding. Traces of old red paint remain. The large stack has a 20th-century brick front. A chamfered bridging beam is supported by a large jowled post, and the rafters are also chamfered. A winder staircase, partly of early date, is present, along with a window facing the alley. A small area within a cupboard contains remnants of painted decoration, possibly including the initials ‘FA’.

Above ground floor level, chamfered bridging beams remain, and areas of framing are visible to the rear. On the second floor, a wall post is visible in one corner, with the rest of the rooms having a 19th-century character. The front roof is believed to be 19th century. The roof of the upper rear wing features a pair of upper cruck blades with a yoke supporting a pair of heavy purlins with curved windbraces; the other end of the purlins rests on a later brick gable end wall.

The building is designated for its importance as a mid-16th century structure with later alterations, situated on a medieval burgage plot in Ashbourne’s historic centre. It was likely originally a shop and warehouse with living accommodation for the merchant and remains in commercial use. Significant areas of timber framing of heavy scantling survive, and the rear wing roof retains a pair of upper cruck blades with yoke.