40, 42 AND 42A, HENLEY STREET

40, 42, and 42A Henley Street is a house dating from the late 16th century to early 17th century. It features a timber frame with irregular framing on the ground floor and a jettied first floor that has small framing. The exterior is finished with colourwashed lath and plaster and brick infill, topped by a tile roof with a central brick ridge and internal stacks. Notable architectural elements include moulded bressumers and two moulded scroll brackets with carved grotesque faces. The building is U-shaped, with two storeys and a two-window range.

The entrance, located in the left corner, has a four-panelled door set within a moulded wood architrave. The ground floor includes casement windows and two 19th-century rectangular bays that were originally shop fronts. The left bay, next to the entrance, has six panes and three thin shafts with moulded capitals and bases, while the right bay has twelve panes, one corner shaft, and an adjacent late 20th-century glazed door. The gable end facing Meeting Lane is jettied, showcasing exposed framing and a moulded and carved bracket supporting the dragon beam.

There is a lower, later 17th-century timber-framed wing facing Meeting Lane, which has an old tile roof and a 18th or early 19th-century cross window with glazing bars. The rear of the building features some exposed framing and a 19th-century brick wing. Inside, much of the framing is exposed, with a broad chamfered ceiling and dragon beams that have stepped stops. A jowled post is visible on the first floor, where two rooms have single scroll brackets supporting a ceiling beam. There is a winder staircase and a straight flight staircase inserted against the right return wall. Two ground floor rooms contain late 20th-century fireplaces made from 17th and 18th-century carvings. Part of the timber-framed wing facing Meeting Lane and the attached 19th-century brick range have been converted into a separate house, No. 42A.