50, High Street

A three-storey dwelling on High Street in Bromyard, an 18th-century remodelling of an earlier timber-framed and jettied building.

The principal elevation facing the road is a refronting in handmade red brick laid in Flemish bond, while the rear is in rubble stone with a brick chimney stack. The building is orientated north-west to south-east in line with the road and was originally one room deep until a two-storey extension was added to the rear.

The road-facing elevation is arranged in three bays. On the ground floor, the right-hand bay contains a 19th-century shop front with four lights separated by glazing bars and a glazed return to the doorway. The doorway is flanked by a radial fluted pilaster on the far side. A moulded fascia terminates in decorative scrolled consoles, and there is a low stuccoed plinth. The left bay contains a three-over-three horned sash window in a recessed opening with a projecting cill. The first floor has six-over-six sash windows to each of the three bays, with keyed moulded pediments. The second floor has three-over-three sash windows to each bay, meeting the soffit of the overhanging eaves. All windows on the upper floors are hornless sashes with frame boxes flush with the façade and projecting cills. The window arrangement is asymmetrical. The rear elevation shows evidence of raising of the eaves.

Interior features include 18th-century doors with fielded panels, though the interior was not fully inspected. Evidence suggests the building was formerly timber-framed and jettied at first-floor level, though this evidence is fragmentary and illegible.

The building was extensively remodelled in the 18th century, when the road-facing elevation was refronted and the eaves were raised, removing much evidence of the earlier timber-framed structure. In the 19th century, the shop front was added to the ground floor and a sash window was inserted into the left bay. The ground floor's previous arrangement is unclear.

Bromyard is a small market town first recorded around 840. High Street was known as Novus Vicus in the late 13th century and recorded as Newe Streate in 1575. The street appears to have been fully built up by the early 17th century, though some plots have been redeveloped since.