Numbers 32 And 34 (Townsend House)

A house, now divided, with a complex building history spanning from probably the 15th century through to the early 20th century. The structure began as a timber-framed building, likely in the 15th century, with alterations and additions made around 1600, further changes in the 18th century, a late 19th-century addition, and substantial remodelling around 1906–7.

The main structure is timber-framed with plastered infill, standing on a dressed red sandstone plinth. The rear has been rendered and partly rebuilt and extended in brick. The front and right-hand gable end have been refaced and partly rebuilt in red brick with a blue brick plinth and yellow and grey sandstone ashlar dressings. The roofs are covered in plain tiles.

The timber framing uses close studding with long straight tension braces. The first floor is jettied with a billet-ornamented bressumer. The plan follows an H-shape: two probably 15th-century timber-framed bays with circa 1600 cross wings of two framed bays each, plus further additions to front and back. The building rises two storeys over a basement and features pierced barge boards with finials.

The front elevation has four gables and displays a fenestration pattern of 3:2:1:1 windows. These are plate-glass sashes with stone cills and lintels. A full-height canted bay occupies the left side. Between the second and third windows from the right is a reused 16th- or 17th-century nail-studded boarded door with strap hinges, flanked by a moulded 17th-century architrave and a circa 1906–7 round-arched surround with boarded tympanum. The left-hand return front exposes timber framing and contains a small two-light first-floor window with evidence of blocked former windows, along with a lean-to porch and addition to the left.

The right-hand gable end features a two-light attic window, a ground-floor plate-glass sash to the left, and a glazed door to the right with a gabled porch. The rear elevation shows later infill between gabled cross wings: the left-hand wing is a 20th-century rebuilding of a 17th-century timber-framed structure, while the right-hand wing dates to the 18th or 19th century and is single-storeyed with a canted bay containing glazing bar sashes. A late 19th-century two-storey brick wing extends to the south-west.

Ridge stacks comprise a pair of brick stacks, off-centre to the right and to the left-hand cross wing, with two further brick stacks at the rear.

Interior

The interior retains substantial surviving timber framing. The central two-bay hall range features chamfered posts with large jowls, cambered tie beams, a central collar and tie-beam truss with queen struts, and curved wind braces. The cross wings contain purlins (some encased in plaster), straight wind braces, and framed cross walls. The left-hand cross wing has a close-studded gable end visible internally. A tension brace is visible in the front wall of the central range.

The front faces of the cross wings show evidence of probable former external jetties on their inner sides. The left-hand jetty features a billet-ornamented bressumer with brackets; the right-hand jetty also has brackets. These suggest that the front wall of the hall range was brought forward (probably in the 17th century) to be flush with the cross wings.

The central ground floor has a probably inserted 17th-century ceiling with large ovolo-moulded beams and chamfered joists with various stops. A staircase to the left, probably moved to its current position in the early 20th century, reuses old oak treads and has a square-panelled framed side wall.

The left-hand ground-floor front room features a moulded stone cornice above the fireplace and cased beams. The left-hand ground-floor rear room (kitchen) contains a pair of deep-chamfered beams and chamfered and stopped joists. A chamfered wall plate and bracket are present, along with a large blocked fireplace with wooden lintel. A pointed-arched doorway with chamfered reveals opens to the hall.

A 16th- or 17th-century nail-studded back door (possibly relocated) has strap hinges and a moulded surround with a pendant to a segmental head. The 18th-century rear wing contains an early 18th-century fireplace with a lugged architrave, marble inner surround, pulvinated frieze, and marbled dentil cornice, alongside a six-panelled door with L-hinges.

The ground-floor room to the 17th-century rear wing features a deep-chamfered beam with ogee stops, 17th-century panelling (some with lozenge ornament), and a 17th-century panelled door with L-hinges. A small ground-floor room to the right of the hall contains a small 18th-century fireplace with a cast-iron basket grate.

The right-hand ground-floor rooms have ovolo-moulded beams. One room retains an open fireplace (reduced in width by a later inserted wall) with a chamfered wooden lintel and a plaster frieze above decorated with four dragons (one almost obscured), a central rose, and a moulded top edge.

The first-floor left-hand front room displays an early 18th-century wooden fireplace with moulded architrave, pulvinated frieze, and moulded cornice. Glass above the door is inscribed and dated 1755, 1757, and 1758, and signed by Richard Townsend. The first-floor left-hand rear room has an early 18th-century wooden fireplace with a lugged moulded architrave, frieze, moulded cornice, and cast-iron basket grate.

Old floorboards are found throughout.

Building History

The house exhibits a complex building history. The front wall of the hall range appears to have been brought forward (probably in the 17th century) to sit flush with the cross wings, which would explain the existence of what appear to be former external jetties on the inner faces of the cross walls. It is also possible that the small gable on the front marks the position of a former two-storey porch, later encased. Another possibility is that the central core was formerly a two-bay or larger aisled hall, though evidence for this was not noted at the time of the survey in June 1986.