Old Post Office And Attached Reading Room/Institute

HAMPTON LUCY

SP25NE CHURCH STREET 1457-1/10/59 (South side) 18/03/97 No.40 Old Post Office and attached Reading Room/Institute

GV II

House and attached reading room, now institute. c1840. Brick with ashlar dressings; tile roofs with brick stacks. EXTERIOR: house of single storey with attic; 3-window range. Gabled forward break to left of centre; wide eaves and decorative bargeboards with finials. Segmental-headed openings are single-chamfered. Entrance to forward break has battened door with strap hinges and bracketed gabled canopy, canted bay window to right has hipped roof over 3 lattice-glazed lights. Carriage entrance to right end has label mould raised over blank ashlar panel and projecting C20 garage doors. Window to ground floor left end has label mould over 2-light casement with lattice glazing. First floor has similar casements to windows to gable and gabled half dormer to each side. Cross-axial stack with 2 diagonal shafts. Institute has single-storey, 3-window range, with later range attached to rear at right angles, with re-entrant porch. Front range has plain plinth and 3 segmental-headed, single-chamfered windows with stone sills, labelmoulds and 2-light frames; lateral stack to rear with 2 shafts. Right return has similar, taller, window. Porch has stone-coped parapet and straight-headed entrance with plank door and return light with label. Rear range has offset buttresses between windows with small-paned lights over inserted C20 casements. INTERIOR: not inspected. Built by the Lucy family for the use of the villagers.

Listing NGR: SP2549357021