41 And 43, High Street

Nos. 41 and 43, High Street, Bromyard

An early 17th-century timber-framed dwelling, originally two storeys tall, to which a third storey was subsequently added. The building now contains shops at ground level and is divided into two separate units.

The building is timber framed with lath and plaster infill, stuccoed to the first and second floors, and roofed in slate with two brick chimney stacks. It runs parallel to the road in a north-east to south-west orientation, comprising two bays of unequal width, with a rear extension.

The principal façade features canted bay windows flanking a pair of front doors at ground level. The right bay contains three plate-glass windows; the left has glazing bars with twelve lights and a slim fascia above. Both front doors are half glazed with plain rectangular over-lights. The jettied first floor displays canted oriel windows fitted with eight-over-eight sashes. Four timber brackets supporting the jettied second floor are visible protruding from the stucco. The second floor contains four-over-four sashes on either side, their tops meeting the eaves soffit.

The ground floor of No. 41 retains an axial ceiling beam with chamfered and stopped joists running front to back, with evidence of removed partitioning and a doorpost. A steep winding stair has been inserted in the south corner, and the girding beam shows three mortices for a four-light mullion window, now removed. A two-storey rear extension is later in date. The first floor displays exposed timber framing with chamfered ceiling beams featuring run-out stops, and a 17th-century carved stone fireplace with fluted jambs, fleur-de-lis detailing, and a decorative cast-iron grate. The head of a jowl post and cross beam is visible on the first-floor corridor. The second floor shows no visible timber framing and contains a small cast-iron fireplace. No. 43 retains similar chamfered and stopped timberwork on the ground floor, with mortices indicating former mullioned windows on the primary rear wall, and a single-storey rear extension. Its first floor shows exposed timber framing with evidence of rearrangement. The same jowl post visible in No. 41 appears in No. 43, bearing 17th-century decorative carving. A blocked doorway at first-floor level originally separated the two units. In the roof space of No. 43, lath and plaster and a weathered pendant from the adjacent King's Arms building are visible.

Bromyard is a small market town first recorded around 840. This part of the High Street, recorded as Novus Vicus in the late 13th century and Newe Streate in 1575, was fully built up by the early 17th century, though some plots have been redeveloped. The building was originally a two-bay, two-storey structure, with a third storey added shortly after. One narrower bay may have originally served a commercial function. The Royal Commission on the Historic Monuments of England surveyed the building in the 1930s and noted it had recently suffered a fire, after which roof timbers were replaced, thatch was re-covered in slate, and the roof was slightly heightened to align with neighbouring ridge lines. Late 19th-century extensions exist to the rear.