Old Guildhall

The Old Guildhall is a building located on High Street in Newport, originally thought to be a guildhall but later used for domestic purposes and now functioning as a pair of shops since July 1986. It dates back to around 1400 and was extended to the north in the late 16th century, with a gable added to the north end of the street front sometime in the 19th century. The structure features exposed timber-framing with painted brick infilling, characterized by close-studding and wind-braces. It has a plain tiled roof with an end stack and a ridge stack positioned to the right of center along the lateral ridge. The left crosswing gable displays 19th-century ornamental bargeboards.

The building has two storeys and an irregular arrangement of windows, with four on the first floor. The outer windows are in small square gabled oriel bays, while the inner pair consists of glazing bar sashes. On the ground floor, there is a central canted bay with glazing bars, and shopfronts on the crosswings, both featuring central entrances. A doorway is located to the right of the central ground-floor bay. Above the ground floor of the central recess, a bressumer is carved with guilloche and other decorations, including the initials 'PW' and 'William 1615 Grecari', which likely do not relate to the building's date.

Inside, the left crosswing shows evidence of having been built as an open hall, oriented gable-end to the street. It originally comprised four bays, with the two end bays floored and the two central bays open to the roof. The central truss features cusped arch-braces, and there are two rows of purlins in the roof, one near the apex, with the purlins and principal rafters being chamfered and stopped. Cusped and pierced windbraces are present between the rows of purlins. The Old Guildhall is listed as Grade II* for its rarity as an example of a former open hall with a cusped arch-braced and wind-braced roof, particularly given its location in the east.