Number 26 And Frontage Wall To South East

This is a house and associated front wall dating to the early and late 16th century, with later additions. It is timber-framed and rendered, with a gabled roof covered in plain clay tiles. The house is two storeys high, with attic rooms, and has two-storey extensions to the rear and the south-east flank.

The front elevation is gabled and features a two-light casement window in the attic, a double-hung sash window with two vertical glazing bars on the first floor, and an entrance with a moulded surround and a six-panel door. The south-east flank extension includes a richly moulded frieze window on three sides, above a lean-to roof covered with machine-made clay tiles. A 19th-century double-hung sash window is set in a former door opening on this flank.

The house is linked to the property at No.27 by a high, old flint boundary wall which has a rubble core. The rear of the wall shows this construction.

Inside, the house has a high-quality two-bay timber frame, positioned at a right angle to the street. It originally included a spine beam in the rear bay and was likely jettied toward the street. All posts are jowled, and the principal timbers are flat-chamfered with plain stops. A reused crown post with straight arch braces supports a first-floor ceiling. An elaborate linenfold panel door is now on the ground floor. A brick spiral staircase, formerly part of a stack, was recently removed behind the rear of the 16th-century wing. A two-storey rear extension, likely from the 18th century, has a gabled clay plain tile roof and reused timber. The small south-east flank extension is of particular interest, being a box-like structure with a window on each of the upper-floor sides. It has an elaborate moulded cornice at the front and rear eaves, and a joisted ceiling beneath the roof. The west front elevation, now hidden, has two short ogee-profile wall braces below the window sill. The cross-wing may have originally been part of a single dwelling with The Alma Inn.