Overbury Post Office And Stores

The building is a post office and stores, originally a house, dating back to an older structure remodelled in 1879 by Richard Norman Shaw for Robert Martin, with a subsequent extension in 1905 by Ernest Newton for Richard Biddulph Martin. It is constructed of coursed dressed limestone rubble with ashlar dressings, some decorative timber framing with roughcast infill, and a stone-tiled roof in diminishing courses, featuring gable-end parapets and ridge stacks. The building stands on a chamfered plinth and is two storeys high. The front elevation, facing north, appears to have roughly three bays. The ground floor features two multi-paned oriel windows supported by shaped brackets and linked by a semi-circular timber archway. To the east of these windows is a glazed circular opening, and to the west, a smaller oriel with a moulded cornice and leaded casements, extending upwards to meet the jetty with framed panels of close-set studding. A gable at the western end of the first floor has a collar and tie-beam truss with decorative concave lozenge detail. The first floor also features a series of windows with leaded casements: a 2-light and a 6-light window above the main oriels, and a 2-light and a 5-light window below the gable. A half-glazed door with a transom light and two glazing bars is centrally positioned, accessed by two flights of stone steps with simple cast iron railings. The rear, south-facing elevation displays two 3-light casements, one with a moulded chevron frieze, and a 4-light casement with a frieze of linked moulded circles above it. The rear west wing, added in 1905 by Newton, is constructed of rubble with a plain tiled roof. It is two storeys high with three bays, and features 2-light leaded casement windows with cambered heads on the ground floor. A lean-to porch with chamfered posts fronts the left side, extending upwards over a similar doorway in an adjoining outbuilding. The outbuilding contains three further doors (one with a side light) and a 2-light window, all with cambered heads, along with four roof skylights.