The Old Post Office

The Old Post Office

This is a house dating to the 17th century with a late 17th or early 18th century extension. It is situated on the corner of Village Street and Hallfields, facing south onto Village Street.

The building is constructed in red brick laid in stretcher bond, rendered in roughcast on the front and gable ends and painted white on the rear elevations. The roof is covered in pantiles, except for the rear extension which is covered in plain clay tiles; none of the tiles are original.

The plan consists of an approximately rectangular three-bay range with a rear crosswing at the east side. A late 17th or early 18th century extension adjoins the crosswing on the west side, and a small late 20th century lean-to has been added to the east side.

The main range and crosswing have one storey and an attic under steeply pitched roofs with kneelered, brick-coped parapets at the gable ends and between the first and second bay. Square brick chimney stacks rise through the ridge between the second and third bay of the main range and at the west gable end, and through the gable end of the crosswing. The rear extension also has one storey and an attic under a pitched roof with an external square chimney breast at the west gable end. The fenestration consists of casement windows of various sizes with wooden glazing bars, mostly of late 19th or early 20th century date.

The south elevation, which faces onto Village Street, has irregular fenestration. The first bay is lit by a three-light window on the ground floor; the second bay by a two-light window on the ground floor and three-light window above; and the third by a large three-light window. A brick wall rendered in roughcast extends from the east side for approximately four metres. The west gable end is lit by a small two-light window and a three-light window above. The east gable end has a projecting three-light window under a tile-clad pentice roof, and a two-light window above.

To the right of the east gable end is the late 20th century single-storey lean-to extension which adjoins the east side of the crosswing. The crosswing is lit by a square-headed dormer positioned across the eaves. The gable end is blind, and the west side has a small window which lights the inglenook. The rest of the west side is obscured by the late 17th or early 18th century extension. This has a multi-pane glass door on the left, followed by a wide six-light bow window; and two windows above, all of 20th century date. Against the west gable end is a single-storey lean-to with a bricked up doorway. On the west side a 20th century vertical plank door has been inserted.

The interior is arranged as three bays along the main southern range with a rear single-bay crosswing and a late 17th or early 18th century extension on the west side of the crosswing. The ceiling structures in all five ground floor rooms are intact and consist of substantial spine or bridging beams with shallow, roughly hewn chamfers, and more slender joists, typical of the 17th century. Numerous doors of probable 17th century date also survive. In the first bay, a small glazed opening on the north wall into the rear extension is thought to be a remnant from the building's use as a post office. In the central bay, the floor of the corridor is laid in 19th century red and black quarry tiles. The two-plank and batten door to the service room, which has strap hinges on pintles and ventilation holes along the bottom, is likely to be 17th century. The service room itself has a shallow arched brick bench on the south side and a solid brick bench on the east side. It opens on the east side into a small room under the stairs which has an exposed reed and daub ceiling. In the third bay the chamfered bridging beam has simple moulded stops. The bressumer of the inglenook at the west end has been truncated at one end and is supported by a square post. A brick hearth of much later date has been inserted beneath a timber hood supported on brackets with an ovolo and roll moulding. The inglenook in the crosswing has a substantial bressumer, and an aga has been inserted in the opening. In the extension, the bridging beams have mortices on the underside, indicating that they have been reused from another building. The plank and batten door has wide planks, a lock case, latch and spearhead strap hinges which were common from the 16th to the mid-18th century. The pintles to the outside door survive, although the door itself has been replaced. In the north-west corner is a small ornate cast-iron fireplace decorated with a sunflower motif, suggesting a late 19th century date.

The closed well staircase is between the central and third bay and leads up to the landing in the central bay. It is possibly in its original location but the stairs themselves are not original. The first bay in the attic has a plank and batten door with long delicate strap hinges, a lock case and latch, of probable 17th century date. The chimney breast has a tiled fireplace of interwar date. In the crosswing the chimney breast projects from the north wall but the fireplace has been boarded up.

The wall plates are partially exposed, as are the roughly hewn purlins, above which the roof is ceiled over. In the crosswing the purlins have been painted black to cover the smoke damage, and a small area in one purlin has been strengthened by concrete infill. In the third bay, a small section of plaster has been removed from the ceiling revealing that some of the rafters have been replaced, probably after a fire. It is thought that the trusses were not replaced.