Toppesfield Stores

Toppesfield Stores is a house that dates back to the 17th century and has been extended in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. It is timber framed and plastered, with a roof made of handmade red clay tiles and slate. The building is a lobby-entrance house with four bays running north to south, featuring a chimney stack in the second bay from the north, which is from the late 17th century.

An additional parallel rear range was added in the 18th century, creating an M-shaped roof. At the north end, there is a two-bay ancillary building from the early 19th century, forming an L-plan. There is a one-bay extension to the north of the main range, which has an external chimney stack on the north wall and a low-pitched slate roof, dating from the late 19th century. To the south, there is a one-bay extension from the 19th century, along with a single-storey extension that forms the current shop, while the rest of the building remains a house.

The building has an east-facing aspect and is two storeys tall. The entrance door features six fielded panels in a moulded surround with a shallow hood, dating from the late 18th century. On the ground floor, there are two double-hung sash windows with ten lights from the early 19th century, a four-panel door leading to the shop, and a bay shop window. The first floor has three similar sash windows. In the north extension, there is one window on each floor, which are 20th-century reproductions of the sash windows.

Inside, the building has chamfered axial beams with lamb's tongue stops and primary straight bracing. A section of 18th-century pargetting, featuring a zigzag design in panels with moulded borders, is enclosed by the rear extension and is a rare survival.