1, High Street

This is a town house, dating to approximately 1600, with earlier cellars and alterations from the early 19th century, restored in 1923. The exterior is roughcast over an earlier timber frame, set on a coursed rubble plinth, and has a hipped roof covered in renewed tiles, with a brick end stack. It is thought that the exterior originally featured two jetties on each side and a gable facing Bridge Street. The building is three storeys high and has a two-window front. It has wide eaves and a bracketed lead gutter. The early 20th century shop front incorporates small-paned glazing and paired doors, with a fascia extending around the corner. The upper floors feature projecting wooden-mullioned and transomed windows, with four and five lights and leaded glazing. A canted ground floor angle displays an embossed lead plaque highlighting the building's connection to Shakespeare and its restoration for WH Smith and Son, who occupied the premises as a shop from 1906 to 1922. A return side faces Bridge Street, with an entrance to the left of the shop window, and a cross-axial stack.

The interior cellar has stone walls and an enriched plaster ceiling and cornice, divided by later partitions. The ground floor features heavy beams and a dragon beam to the left of the entrance, along with flat joists with rebated edges for floorboards, and a 20th-century staircase. The first floor contains two rooms with posts indicating a former partition wall, and a stone fireplace at the right end. The attic has tie-beam and collar trusses, one of which has a close-studded infill. Close-studded rear and right return walls, and a fireplace at the right end are also present.

Historically, the building was owned by Richard Quiney and was the residence of Shakespeare’s daughter, Judith, who married Richard’s son, Thomas, in 1616. The cellar is believed to have been part of an early town gaol, known as The Cage from around 1470 and later used for wine storage by Richard Quiney, with records dating back to approximately 1381.