Carpenters Arms Public House

The Carpenters Arms is a public house, dating from around 1500 with significant alterations in the 19th century. It is constructed of timber-framing, now largely encased in red Flemish-bond brick, with extensions of similar brickwork, all under gabled peg-tile roofs. The building comprises two parts with differing ridgelines, running parallel to the street. The south-western part has a small gable-end stack and a single square sash window on the first floor. The ground floor features a tall sash window with a central vertical glazing bar and a segmental brick head. A 20th-century entrance door is set under a segmental brick head, and a small square sash window sits beneath the first-floor window. The north-eastern block has a late 19th-century front extension with a lean-to felt roof and a central ridgeline stack. The first floor has a central blind plastered opening, a four-pane casement window, and one 12-pane horizontal-sliding casement window. The ground floor has a high white-painted plinth and three eight-pane sash windows, each with a segmental brick head. The rendered north-east elevation has a fixed eight-pane window set in the upper wall area. The rear of the building showcases two gabled, two-storey extensions rendered with plain tile roofs, a 20th-century flat-roofed extension, and a catslide extension with a plain tiled roof.

The interior of the front range retains a two-bay timber-frame of cross-wing character, parallel to the street. It features unjowled posts and an unbraced cambered tie beam with a crown-post roof, exhibiting thin longitudinal bracing. A section of substantial floor joists remains, fitted into a bridging joist, along with knee-like brackets between wall posts and the central bridging joist. The first-floor level of the north-east elevation reveals a shutter rebate, likely intended for a pair of central windows. There is limited evidence of original infill walling. A late 16th-century narrow gabled two-storey extension is situated on the rear wall, incorporating jowled posts; a wider, similar extension features a side purlin roof, jowled posts, and wall braces nailed to the inside face of the studs. The building may incorporate an early cross-wing frame, potentially reused in the late 16th century.