Bunyan'S Mead

A row of houses, likely dating back to the 15th century or earlier, with significant additions and alterations made in the 16th, 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. The row was renovated in 1976-77. The houses are timber framed with colourwashed plaster infill and some colourwashed plaster render, topped with clay tile roofs. The row runs along the road, with slight variations in roofline and some frontages projecting forward. Five two-storeyed wings are set back from the road. A coach entrance with a room above, set higher than the first-floor level and with a half-hipped roof and tile cladding to the lower half of the gable, sits between numbers 3 and 8. A narrow covered way is located between numbers 10 and 11. The row features jettied first floors, supported by brackets in places, with fairly close studding and ogee bracing in parts, particularly at number 2 and in the room above the coach entrance. Most windows and doors are 20th-century replacements with glazing bars, although the window above the coach entrance retains leaded lights. A variety of red brick ridge and gable end stacks are visible. The rear elevation of number 4 has some square-panel framing and close studding to the north gable. This north gable also has a jettied first floor with a moulded bressumer. The interiors of numbers 4, 5 and 6 retain a variety of decorative details, largely restored. The ground floor sitting room, originally an open hall, features some early 17th-century wall paintings, mostly concealed by mid-17th-century panelling, and a restored staircase positioned based on evidence of painted newels and balusters on the walls. A coat of arms above the fireplace, depicting William Parker, Lord of Parley, and his wife Elizabeth, is present, potentially imported from elsewhere. An adjacent room contains a C17 coat of arms, likely of continental origin. A warden's first-floor flat includes a crude mid-17th-century plasterwork cornice and a mid-16th-century fireplace incorporating masonry, including window tracery, from Elstow Abbey. Another first-floor flat similarly reuses masonry in its fireplace.