38a St Mary's Street

This building comprises a 16th-century timber-framed front range with a 17th-century northeast wing, incorporating multiple phases of development from the 17th to 20th centuries.

Materials

The building is principally timber-framed with some sections of rubble stone walling and a rendered brick wing to the northeast. The roof is plain-tile throughout.

Plan

The building has an open courtyard plan. The original 16th-century range fronts onto St Mary's Street, with a later 17th-century wing and 19th-century additions to the northeast along Downham Road. A late 20th-century single-storey extension encloses the northwest side of the corner-plot site.

Exterior

St Mary's Street Range

The principal frontage and earliest part of the building is a double-storeyed, two-bay structure facing onto St Mary's Street. This rendered portion appears to have been principally timber-framed, although much of the early framing has been lost in later alterations. The fact that it is storeyed means it is probably post-medieval, but is unlikely to be later than the 16th century. A pair of 18th-century sash windows are positioned above a pair of 19th-century shop windows. These shop windows each have individual lights headed by Gothic-style, four-centred arches and are set within a window surround composed of a flanking pair of pilasters with an architrave and a moulded cornice along the top. The left shop window has two lights and an integrated door, and that to the right consists of five lights. A further apparently 19th-century addition is the chimney stack of the southwest gable end, which was probably rebuilt contemporaneously with the adjacent building at No. 40-42, which was constructed in 1840 (as recorded on a datestone).

Towards the north of the St Mary's Street elevation, the lower section of the external wall is painted rather than rendered, and the form and texture suggest that it is of rubble stone rather than brick. It is possible that this stone gable wall relates to the earlier medieval building known to have been constructed on the site. This might explain the irregular height of the stonework, which does not appear to correspond to the building's 16th-century storeys.

The northeast gable end of the St Mary's Street range gives the clearest evidence of the 16th-century phase, indicating that the 16th-century gable end was constructed in two materials, probably rubble stone at lower level and timber-framed above (as also implied on the north side of the St Mary's Street frontage). Above the stone wall are the remains of a short post with an associated principal rafter above, probably forming part of the end truss of this 16th-century range. As with the St Mary's Street frontage, the northeast gable end also has an inserted 18th-century sash window and, beneath this, a further five-light 19th-century shop window. At the corner of the building is a fine two-leaf curved door which was also introduced in the 19th century as the entrance to the shop occupying this northeast side of the range.

Northeast Wing

Adjoining the St Mary's Street range is a rear wing which was built in the 17th century to provide additional domestic accommodation. Externally the elevations of this block are of rendered brick, and on the street-facing elevation a distinctive 17th-century plat band is visible marking the division of ground- and first-floor levels. The brickwork of the north gable end is exposed, with the gable featuring tumbled brickwork characteristic of the 17th century along with a chimneystack of the same date. As with the St Mary's Street range, the rear wing has an inserted pair of 18th-century sash windows and, off-set to the right side, a 19th-century door with a door frame which matches the window surrounds of the St Mary's Street range shop fronts. At first-floor level there are 19th-century casement windows on both the southwest and northeast elevations.

In the 19th century the building was further extended along Downham Road, with a single-bay, single-storeyed extension added at this time, with a simple four-panelled door off-set to its right side and a plain brick gable end to the northwest. This extension has now had its attic space converted to a kitchen, with a projection built out from the pitched roof on the southwest side to accommodate this.

Not visible from the street is the southwest single-storeyed wing. This late 20th-century extension forms a simple flat-roofed brick range with French doors inset within the end wall giving access to the courtyard.

Interior

St Mary's Street Range – Ground Floor

Internally the 16th-century St Mary's Street range has been extensively modified at both ground- and first-floor level, leaving this area with little evidence of the original form and arrangement of the rooms. The open plan-form and most of the internal fittings at ground-floor level are the product of the most recent reconfiguration, carried out late in the 20th century. This included the removal of partitions and the insertion of timber posts to support what appears to be a re-set spine beam which runs along the centre of the range. The spine beam and its supporting posts are apparently made up of reused timbers, most likely brought in from elsewhere. A single-storey wing was added in the late 20th century enclosing the southwest side of the courtyard. This extension is accessed via a set of three modern brick steps positioned in line with the rear wall of the 16th-century range.

St Mary's Street Range – First Floor

At first-floor level, there are two larger rooms at the front of the range, and an access landing and smaller room (now a bathroom) to the rear. This arrangement was probably a product of a mid-19th-century phase of development, contemporary with the rebuilding of the western gable end and the chimneystack centrally within it. A fireplace with an elaborate cast-iron fender, located in the western bedroom, appears to date from this period. The doors to each of the separate three rooms all date stylistically to the 18th century, but were probably re-set when this floor was reconfigured. Although the three surviving doors of this phase all share a common two-panel pattern, each one has a different moulding pattern. The three different types may indicate a hierarchy of spaces, but given some of the doors have been relocated, this is difficult to determine.

Within the east gable wall of the St Mary's Street range first floor, a portion of the 16th-century tie beam remains visible, corresponding with the post and rafter visible externally. The remainder of this truss is concealed internally, as are most of the intermediate trusses of the range. At the western extent of the building, however, part of the western tie beam is visible within the northwest first-floor room. Aside from these two tie beam elements, the roof of the building is largely concealed by later plasterwork. At attic level, however, a series of collars representing part of the original roof structure are visible, with one in each of the gable walls and four intermediate collars. Notches in the upper sides of the collars appear to have been for clasped purlins and may represent the original collar and purlin arrangement.

Northeast Wing – Ground Floor

Within the 17th-century northeast wing, the ground-floor room forms a single space accessed via a doorway which would formerly have been placed centrally in the south wall. The central doorway is now blocked by the later stair and a new doorway has been created to the left, but the timber framing of the original doorway's jambs and head are visible within the plasterwork adjacent to the stair, and within the room itself. A central spine beam with ovolo moulded edges and scrolled stops remains in situ here. In the north end wall there is a projecting central chimney breast with a fireplace. This has a timber bressummer with a chamfered lower edge and simple square cut stops.

Northeast Wing – First Floor

The first-floor room is similarly arranged with a central spine beam of the same moulding form. A projecting chimney breast sits slightly west of the central line. This again has a timber bressummer with a chamfered lower edge with straight stops. On the eastern side of the chimney breast, a scar in the ceiling appears to mark the location of an original partition wall, which could have provided a large cupboard or closet within the recess created by the chimney breast. This may have been lit by a small window which survives as a recess in the internal east wall, although without any associated framing. The room appears always to have been lit by a large central window opening in the east elevation, with the timber lintel of the window opening surviving in situ, although the framing of the window itself has been replaced.

The roof structure of the wing is largely plastered over, although more of its form is visible than that of the front range. It is formed of two intermediate trusses, with the roof framing running into the brick gable wall at the north end. At the southern end the roof runs into the roof structure of the earlier range, although the junction of the two is largely concealed by later plaster. Of the two intermediate trusses, the upper portions are exposed, with the tie beams hidden within the later floor of the attic storey. The principal rafters of both are visible, with cambered collars. Between the principal rafters run staggered butt purlins, a characteristic of the 17th century, implying the roof is contemporary with the rest of the range.

19th-Century Extension

At the northwest end of the 17th-century range is the 19th-century extension or outbuilding. This is connected at ground- and first-floor level to the 17th-century wing. Both levels have been largely modernised, the ground floor now serving as an entrance room and utility area, the upper floor as a kitchen.