The Porch House

The Porch House is a timber-framed house, originally dating to the 17th century, located on the west side of High Street, Bishop's Castle. It has undergone alterations and additions in the 18th and early 19th centuries, and a partial, mid- to late-20th century restoration. The house is constructed with timber framing, rendered infill panels, and sections of roughcast, coursed limestone rubble, and red brick. The roof is slate, with a hipped section to the left; further slate roofing covers rear additions arranged in three hipped ranges.

The building is arranged in an L-shape, featuring a cross passage positioned off-centre to the left, a ‘hall’ range to the right, and a two-room lower end to the left. The timber framing is characterised by square panels with parallel diagonal framing forming lozenge patterns. The house has a basement, two storeys and an attic. The first floor has a continuous jetty, recently ‘restored’ to the right using steel brackets, with an exposed carved bracket featuring a carved head and remains of a shaft below. There are also carved brackets and shafts supporting the jettied eaves; a gabled dormer to the right has slate-hung sides and a two-light leaded casement. Brick stacks are located behind the ridge, off-centre to the right, and on the transverse ridge to the left at the rear.

The first floor has three diamond-leaded casements installed in the mid- to late-20th century, with three-lights in the centre and four-lights to the outside. On the ground floor, there are four diamond-lead casements installed in the mid- to late-20th century, two of two lights and two of three lights. An early 19th century lean-to addition is located to the left, with two ground floor glazing bar sashes, a mid-20th century shop window, and a four-panelled door. A 17th-century studded boarded door is situated off-centre to the left, featuring strap hinges, four cusped openings in the head, a shaped head with carved scrolled spandrels, and a moulded architrave; a shaft leads up to a carved jetty bracket with a carved head. A five-step porch with a jettied gable and bracketed bressumer, bearing carved decoration and a possible date of E ? 161? is present, along with V-struts in the gable and a three-light casement.

The lower three-storey bay to the left is structurally part of the adjacent building at No. 31, High Street. It has roughcast exterior, a slate roof, a jettied first floor, a shaped bracket to the right, and evidence of a former jettied second floor, with boarded double doors at ground level. Internally, the cross passage walls exhibit close-studded construction with a middle rail. There are doors off the cross passage with arched lintels and carved spandrels. Late 19th-century panelling was introduced in the ‘hall’ range in 1984. A painted medallion, possibly from the 18th or early 19th century, depicting a castle is located on a wall of a first-floor room to the rear. This house is recognised as one of the most significant and opulent 17th-century houses in the town, demonstrating a group value context.