18, Broad Street

BROMYARD

815/1/163 BROAD STREET 12-APR-73 BROMYARD 18 (Formerly listed as: BROAD STREET BROMYARD 26)

GV II A late-C18 town house incorporating a late-C17 core, extended in the C19 built mainly in brick and stone rubble with hipped slate roofs.

EXTERIOR: it has a three storey symmetrical street front with lined-out stucco to the ground floor set under a stone string course. A central six panelled door with a rectangular marginal glazed fanlight under a pointed hood on cut brackets is flanked by 8 x 8 pane sash windows with flat rusticated stone arches. The two sashes to the first floor are identical to these, with those to the top floor being smaller 4 x 4 pane sashes. The rear elevation is dominated by two two-storey C19 wings with a small part of the rear to the main range, built in stone rubble, just visible. The C19 wings have a mixture of window designs, some inserted in the later C20.

INTERIOR: Not inspected but has been informed by the Insight Historic Buildings Research report (2009). The house contains a number of C18 features including fireplaces and a staircase with a plain, closed string and stick balusters below a moulded handrail. There are remnants of late-C17 timber-framing at both ground- and second floor level. In the attic the tops of the primary trusses of the late-C17 roof are visible beneath the raised late-C18 roof, suggesting the main range was probably a two bay, two and a half storey high timber-framed building laid out parallel to the road. A very large chimney stack survives at the west end of the main range. The cellar has rubble stone walls and may be contemporary with the late-C17 core or relate to an earlier building on the site.

HISTORY: Bromyard is a small market town that was first recorded in circa 840. No. 18 Broad Street is situated on one of the principal thoroughfares in the town adjoining the market square. The street appears to have been fully built up by the early C17, though some of the plots have been re-developed since that time.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION: No. 18 Broad Street is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

• Architectural Interest: it is an interesting example of a small C18 town house incorporating an earlier late-C17 timber-framed building. * Group Value: it has a prominent position in one of the main historic streets in Bromyard and forms an important group with other listed buildings in the vicinity.

SOURCES: Dalwood H and Bryant V, An Archaeological Assessment of Bromyard - The Central Marches Historic Towns Survey 1992-6 (2005) - http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/projArch/EUS/marches_eus_2005/downloads.cfm?county=herefordshire&area=bromyard&CFID=1543698&CFTOKEN=53188440 - Accessed on 18 August 2010 James D, Insight Historic Buildings Research, An Analysis of the Historic Fabric of Fifty Buildings in the Central Area of Bromyard, Herefordshire (2009)