34, High Street

SJ 5441 8/98 1.5.51

WHITCHURCH URBAN C.P. HIGH STREET (south-west side) No. 34 (Formerly listed as premises occupied by Bradleys)

GV II

House, now shop and office. Early to mid-C18. Red brick with painted sandstone dressings. Plain tile roof. L-plan. 3 storeys. Remains of chamfered stone plinth, chamfered quoins, deep rusticated stone band beneath first-floor windows, plat band between first- and second-floor windows, and moulded wooden modillion eaves cornice. Parapeted gabled ends with rounded stone copings, shaped kneelers and integral brick end stacks (that to right rebuilt c.1900). Brick ridge stack to rear wing. 4 bays; boxed plate-glass sashes with moulded stone cills on small shaped brackets and gauged-brick heads with raised keystones. Late C20 plate-glass shop-front with deep fascia. Left-hand return front: rear wing with rendered chamfered plinth and dentil brick eaves cornice. 4 bays; boxed glazing bar sashes (some with bars removed and some blocked) with moulded stone cills and gauged-brick heads with keystones. Early C19 doorway to left with 6-panelled door (lower 2 panels flush) and simple doorcase with incised plaster strips, frieze with central panel, and moulded cornice. Interior: C18 (post 1720) dog-leg staircase rising from first- floor to attic, with half landings, open string with shaped brackets, column-on-vase balusters (2 per tread), ramped moulded handrail, and columnular foot newel to first floor. The section of the staircase from the ground floor to the first floor has been removed, probably when the house became a shop. Some of the turned balusters of the top section have been replaced by C20 rectangular-section balusters. This house is thought to have been the home of the Duke of Bridgewater's steward. Whitchurch Area Archaeological Group, Whitchurch Rural, ill. 24.

Listing NGR: SJ5413941574