Numbers 180A, B And C, And Wing To East In Swan Street

House, now comprising two shops, a house and a store, located at the corner of High Street and Swan Street in Kelvedon. Built in the late 14th or early 15th century, with alterations made in the 16th, 17th and 19th centuries. The building is timber-framed and plastered, roofed mainly with handmade red plain tiles, with some interlocking concrete tiles on later sections.

The structure comprises several interconnected ranges. The core is a 2-bay hall facing north-west, with a 2-bay parlour and solar crosswing to the right, and a 2-bay service crosswing to the left. A mid-16th century axial stack stands at the junction of the hall and parlour wing. The service crosswing has a one-bay extension to the rear, and a 15th century triangular wing extends to its left, facing Swan Street. A 17th century single-storey range of 3 bays extends further left along Swan Street, with an axial stack and a 20th century stack behind. A small 20th century flat-roofed single-storey extension has been added to the rear of the hall. The building is two storeys throughout the upper ranges, with the single-storey Swan Street range being lower.

The building is now subdivided: the right crosswing is number 180A (currently an estate agent's office); the hall range is number 180B (a house); the left crosswing and triangular wing comprise number 180C (currently a shop); and the single-storey range along Swan Street is used as a video club.

Number 180A has a late 19th century shopfront of 4 lights with 4-centred heads featuring foliate and floriate carved spandrels, a late 19th century half-glazed panelled door, and a canopy over both on scrolled and carved brackets. Above this, the first floor has one late 19th century transomed 4-light casement with a matching canopy on scrolled brackets.

Number 180B features a 19th or 20th century transomed 5-light window and a 20th century door set within a larger late 19th century aperture with a 4-centred head and carved spandrels, with a canopy on scrolled and carved brackets above. The first floor has one 19th or 20th century transomed 4-light casement with a small gable above. The stack has been truncated.

Number 180C (the shop) has a High Street elevation with a 3-light shop window similar to 180A but without canopy, and a half-glazed door. The first floor has a similar window to that of 180A. On the Swan Street elevation, there is one window on each floor of similar character to the first-floor window of 180A. Two panelled doors, each with 2 V-headed lights, are set beneath a canopy on scrolled and carved brackets. A 19th century moulded bressumer and band runs at first-floor window height. The single-storey Swan Street wing has 3 late 19th century casements of 3, 3 and 4 lights respectively, each with a canopy on scrolled and carved brackets, a 19th century half-glazed door, and vehicle access through the left end. Three gables on the High Street elevation and one on the Swan Street elevation have 19th century fretted bargeboards, the larger three with scrolled brackets and pendants.

The rear elevation of the Swan Street range contains one early 19th century sash of 16 lights and one 18th century window with rectangular leading, including a wrought iron casement with original spring latch and tulip handle. The rear pitch of this range is roofed with interlocking tiles only.

Internally, the right crosswing (180A) has some exposed studding with curved bracing trenched to the outside. It contains a double-ogee moulded binding beam with convergent stops and a wide wood-burning hearth with chamfered jambs and a chamfered mantel beam with step stops. The binding beam and brickwork of the hearth have been damaged by sand-blasting. All main timbers—jowled posts, wallplates and tiebeams—are hollow-chamfered. One 17th or 18th century moulded 3-plank door serves a first-floor closet. The crownpost roof is of particular note, being formerly axial-braced with a splayed and undersquinted scarf in the collar-purlin. The crownpost is now missing, and one tiebeam has been replaced. The front of the hall roof has been raised, leaving the original roof structure in place. The main roof has a cross-quadrate crownpost with 4-way rising braces, heavily smoke-blackened from former use.

The left crosswing (part of 180C) has a binding beam morticed and grooved for a former service partition supported on a brick pier at the right end, with plain joists of horizontal section jointed with unrefined soffit tenons. A blocked stair trap exists at the rear right corner. The wing was formerly jettied but has been underbuilt with the jetty plate removed. Exposed studs and the original sill remain in the left wall. The roof is a crownpost type, formerly with axial bracing, hipped at the rear end.

The triangular wing is jettied to the Swan Street elevation and has been underbuilt. The jetty plate carries diamond mortices and a shutter groove. It contains a chamfered beam and plain joists of horizontal section jointed with housed soffits. The roof is a crownpost type, formerly with axial bracing.

The single-storey range along Swan Street contains one cambered tiebeam, apparently re-used, a large wood-burning hearth rebuilt in the 20th century, and a clasped purlin roof.

Access to the main part of number 180B was not obtained at the time of survey in November 1986.