59, Castle Street

This is a house located on Castle Street, Saffron Walden, with a complex history spanning the 16th century through to the 20th century. It was originally two separate houses, later combined into a single dwelling. The construction includes timber-framed sections, plastered walls, and a peg-tiled roof. A two-story rear addition dates to approximately 1800, supplemented by later 20th-century extensions to the rear.

The front elevation, facing South, is divided into two distinct units. The eastern unit is jettied, supported by decorative brackets, while the western unit has a simpler eaves cove. The facade originally had a three-window range. The ground floor features two 18th-century sash windows, one with a four-by-two pane design and the other with a four-by-four pane layout, both with horns. The original doorway, centrally located on the ground floor, is now blocked. Above, three windows with moulded architraves are present, two with a four-by-three pane layout and one, on the west side, with a two-by-two pane configuration and horns. The roof is hipped at the western end. The jetty on the east end displays 17th-century decorative details, including a dentilled bressumer, ovolo-moulded joist ends, three small consoles, and a moulded shell above the eaves. A decorative plaque dated 1630 is also a feature. The frontage has been roughcast in the 20th century, but traces of original panel pargetting are visible. The west-facing elevation continues the eaves cove and includes a two-story rear addition. An internal porch with an ogee head leads to a 20th-century six-panel door, alongside a cellar light and a small first-floor window. An 18th-century chimney stack rises through the roof towards the rear. A north-facing wall, incorporating a cobbled and brick structure, forms part of the side alleyway, with a boarded door and a lean-to conservatory roof above. The rear, north-facing elevation is complex, hosting a 20th-century conservatory, a kitchen with a balcony above, and a projecting rectangular room clad in imitation weatherboarding, all featuring large windows and glazed doors.

Internally, evidence of the original division between the eastern and western units remains visible on the first floor. Jowled corner posts and arched bracing suggest the original house extended further west, towards the present alleyway. A step-chamfered bridging joist on the west end indicates this section likely dates before 1560. The eastern unit contains a large rear fireplace on the ground floor, now without its original upper structure, but retaining a rebuilt timber lintel. The 18th-century rear addition's timber frame exhibits some exposed primary braced walling and original stud mortices in the rear wall plate. Surviving consoles on the front suggest the presence of projecting oriel windows in the 17th century. Four such consoles are noted in historical records.