44 And 46, High Street

This is a house, now divided into two dwellings, dating from the mid-16th century. It has been extended several times, notably in the early 19th century and again probably later in the 19th century. The building is timber-framed and constructed of red brick, gault brick, painted timber, and roughcast rendering, with a tiled roof. One original brick ridge stack remains, with some rebuilt upper courses. Another stack, originally at the gable end and likely dating from the late 17th century, has also been rebuilt.

The house originally comprised a single range of five bays, including a narrower central bay, with a lobby entry and a two-storey porch. The plan was later extended by one bay at each end during the 19th century. It is two storeys high. The timber framing is now exposed, featuring substantial framing with downward bracing at the first floor. Jowled posts support a rear wall plate joined in four lengths with scarf joints. A gabled two-storey porch is tiled and framed, with the ground floor framing cased in red brick from the 16th or 17th century. An ogee moulding above the blocked original doorway, which has a chamfered surround and a three-light fanlight, is present. The hollow and roll mouldings of the windows are similar to those of the original windows. Inside, the original floor is of planks and three battens with contemporary iron nails. The house retains two original windows with hollow and roll mouldings, with two similar windows on the ground floor. Other windows are 19th and 20th century, and there are several blocked doorways which date from the conversion of the house into four dwellings. A one-bay addition of clay bat and tiled construction exists to the right, two storeys high, with one window on the ground floor and a 19th-century horizontal sliding sash window in the gable end. A painted brick addition exists to the left.

Internally, original abutting hearths are notable, one featuring a large brick and clunch inglenook, with a stop-chamfered main beam and middle rail forming a cornice. A bay to the right, possibly a buttery, may have lacked a floor until the early 19th century, when the clay bat extension with a grey brick stack was added. Another 16th-century hearth is smaller, constructed of dressed clunch blocks and herringbone brickwork. Early repairs were necessary to the front wall plate, and in the late 17th century a small red brick hearth with plastered jambs and stenciled foliage patterning was added to the left-hand gable end. At that time, the tiebeam to the end truss was likely removed and replaced with a reused beam, with evidence of disturbance at the wall plate joints.