32-36 Willow Street

House, built in the late C16 or early C17, later converted to commercial premises and extensively altered in the late C19 and C20.

MATERIALS: the front (south) elevation is of painted brickwork with a timber and glazed shopfront, concealing a timber frame structure inside. The roof covering is slate.

PLAN: the building has an L-shaped plan, with a principle, rectangular front range facing Willow Street to the south and a rear wing projecting north along the eastern plot boundary. A later, C20 extension partially infills the return, while a further C20, single storey extension lies offset to the north of the rear wing.

EXTERIOR: the building is two storeys in height across four bays onto Willow Street under a pitched roof. The principal, south elevation is symmetrically arranged. The ground-floor shopfront, which extends across all four bays, comprises a central, recessed entrance flanked by two pairs of large, plate-glass shop windows and a timber fascia board across the entire shopfront. Each bay is flanked by a pair of fluted pilasters and beneath each window is a low, brick base. The entrance comprises a late C20 door within a late C19 or early C20 surround with a rectangular overlight. Above the fascia board is an awning retracted into the shopfront, attached to the pilasters via metal poles. The first floor is very low and contains four, C20, timber casements directly below a timber fascia board.

INTERIOR: the interior contains areas of exposed timber framing, including chamfered ceiling beams to the ground-floor rooms with straight-cut stops and joists, and square panelling to the cross walls upstairs. In front of the main entrance is a large, inglenook fireplace with a chamfered bressumer and a C19 cast iron range. The roof is understood to be constructed in four bays with a cambered tie beams to the east gable end.