5 And 6, Market Street

5 and 6 Market Street is a shop located in Harwich, dating from the mid to late 16th century. It features a timber-framed structure that is rendered, topped with a gabled roof made of concrete interlocking tiles. The building has two storeys with attics. The front displays a stump of a rendered central ridgeline stack and two hipped-roof dormers that contain 2-light casements. On the first floor, there are two 20th-century double-hung sash windows with two vertical glazing bars, along with a blind window recess. The shop front, dating from the 19th century, includes a central canted recessed entrance, cast-iron ventilators above, and a fascia supported by consoles at each end.

Inside, the building retains a two-storey timber frame from the 16th century, consisting of two equal bays and lacking a jetty. The wall bracing is of the Colchester type, featuring a northeast gable and a central end tie beam with wavy arch braces and unusual nailed-on studs. This wall is an early example of 'economy' carpentry, with the lower halves of the studs halved under the braces. The roof is of the side purlin type and has been raised at a later date. The joists are stop-chamfered with soffit tenons, and there are remnants of two windows in the rear wall, one of which has ovolo mullions and retains ancient leaded light glazing with diamond panes nailed to the mullions.