55-63, Stoneham Street

This is a group of five cottages, originally a timber-framed house dating to around 1550. It has been altered in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. The house is built of timber framing, with plaster and weatherboard cladding, and a roof of handmade red plain tiles.

The original layout consisted of a two-bay parlour or solar crosswing on the left, a two-bay "hall" in the middle, and a two-bay service crosswing on the right, all under a continuous roof. The left crosswing has been divided by an axial partition, creating separate dwellings at numbers 55 and 57. A rear wing, dating to the 16th century, juts out from the right end, with a 16th-century axial stack in the first bay, which was shortened around 1922. An 18th or 19th century lean-to extension runs the full length of the rear of numbers 55-61, with a slate roof, and a 20th-century lean-to extension with a slate roof is at the rear of number 59. A 20th-century conservatory is at the rear of number 55, and an 18th or 19th century lean-to extension is now part of number 63.

The front of the building features four early 19th-century sash windows with 8+12 lights (numbers 55-61) and one with 10+15 lights (number 63) on the ground floor. Above, the first floor also has four early 19th-century sash windows with 8+8 lights (numbers 55-61) and one with 10+15 lights (number 63), all incorporating crown glass. Number 55 has a 20th-century glazed door; numbers 57-61 have 20th-century plain doors, and number 63 has a 19th-century four-panel flush door.

A full-length jetty, with exposed horizontal section joists below and a carved wooden bracket, is visible at the right end. An 18th-century moulded wooden eaves cornice is supported by wrought iron brackets. The rear elevation and right return are weatherboarded, while the front is plastered. Inside, there are chamfered axial beams of heavy section with step stops. The left crosswing also has chamfered joists with step stops, and a missing jetty plate. The ground floor of the left crosswing has a blocked original doorway into the “hall” with a chamfered Tudor head, and a blocked doorway with a plain head above, both visible in number 57. The roof is a crownpost roof with axial braces over the “hall”, while the roofs of the crosswings have been rebuilt. The remaining portion of the rear wing contains a wide wood-burning hearth facing backwards, with a damaged brick depressed arch and a relieving lintel above, as well as plain horizontal section joists and a crownpost roof braced on one side with corrugated iron cladding. The lower storey of the building is unusually tall, standing approximately 2.80 metres high.