32, 32A AND 32B, HIGH STREET

Shops with flats, dating from the mid-16th century and early 19th century. The building is timber-framed and rendered, with three parallel plain tile roofs. The roof is hipped at the front and gabled at the rear, concealed behind a plain parapet.

The exterior is three storeys high and has a three-window frontage. The second floor features three small, flush sash windows with flat surrounds. The first floor has remnants of wide tripartite sash windows with moulded surrounds, though these are partially obscured by modern shop fascias. There are three 20th-century shop fronts with recessed entrances. A stack is located behind the front range to the east, and another runs through the front roof slope on the west flank of No.32A. A two-storey rendered extension, likely dating from the late 16th century, projects from the rear of No.32A, featuring a gabled peg-tile roof. Adjacent to this is a single-storey red-brick extension from the 19th century, also with a gabled peg-tile roof and a small gable end stack. The rear gable of No.32A partially overlaps the rear gable of No.32.

The interior of the two eastern bays of No.32 consists of a mid-16th century three-storey timber frame, formerly jettied on each floor and originally with two gables facing the front. The parallel roofs feature side purlins with arched wind bracing and queen posts rising from the unbraced tie beams. A further bay of roof originally projected rearward from No.32, and when removed, the open truss was filled in with studwork. A diamond-mullioned window, now infilled with daub, is located on the rear wall of No.32A, above the tie-beam level. A large, square stack, likely dating from the early 17th century, stands behind this window. The rear range also has a side-purlin roof constructed from reused timbers, with two bays, a stack bay, and cambered tie beams on jowled posts. The upper storey construction of Nos 32 & 32A represents an unusual early characteristic of a lack of continuity in the framing, with a three-bay roof over a two-bay concept on the ground and first floors. No.30 has a timber frame dating from the 17th century, three bays deep, and possibly incorporating earlier work on the ground floor.