Old Post Office Cottages

TL 7638 GREAT YELDHAM HIGH STREET, East Side 7/5 Nos. 1 and 2, Old Post 1952 Office Cottages. GV II

House, c.1400, altered in C16 and C19, now 2 cottages. Timber framed, mainly plastered, partly clad with red brick in Flemish bond, partly with C20 brick in stretcher bond, roofed with handmade red clay tiles. 2-bay hall aligned N-S, aspect W, with 2 2-bay crosswings. Small C17 2-storey extension to rear of N wing, C19 single-storey lean-to extension to N and E. C18 external chimney stack to N, C19 external chimney stack to S, C19 internal chimney at rear of hall. Hall single-storey with attics, crosswings of 2 storeys. Both crosswings jettied the N jetty with 2 plain brackets, the S jetty underbuilt with C20 brickwork. The hall is faced with C19 brickwork. 2 plain boarded doors, no. 1 with a C19 rustic porch with tiled gabled roof. No. 1 has 2 C20 casement windows on each floor, of which one is in a gabled dormer. No. 2 has on the ground floor one late C17 casement window, much altered, and one C19 cast iron casement window, and 2 more on the first floor, of which one is in a gabled dormer. Both crosswing roofs are hipped at the rear. There are 2 C19 grouped diagonal shafts on each of the middle and S stacks. The interior retains many original features - both service doorways with 4-centred heads in no. 1, and original partition between the service rooms. The central tiebeam of the hall is steeply cambered with deep arch braces meeting in the middle, and cross- quadrate crownpost with broach stops. The wallplates are chamfered in 2 orders, with rebates for shutters in both. The inserted floor of the hall has chamfered axial beam and chamfered joists of horizontal section, all with lamb's tongue stops, and original boards, late C16. The N (parlour/solar) crosswing has wide brackets to the binding beam, which is chamfered with step stops. The stair in no. 2 has C17 flat balusters of unusual serpentine profile. No access to roofs, but as there is no axial chimney stack it is likely that all are of crownpost construction and original. RCHM 22.

Listing NGR: TL7615638092