13A And 15, King Street

13A and 15 King Street, Saffron Walden

Two shops and a central restaurant occupying a timber-framed building of medieval origins, substantially remodelled and refronted in the 20th century. The structure dates from around 1500, with significant additions and alterations from around 1800 and the 19th century. The building is plastered with a slate roof, hipped at the west end. It rises two storeys to an attic, with prominent stacks: a particularly substantial example from around 1800 pierces the roof pitch at the west end, with further stacks behind and to the east.

The original plan forms an L-shape, following the corner of King Street and Cross Street. An east-west projecting rear wing was added to the centre of the main range around 1800, with a 19th-century lean-to on the west side.

The north front elevation facing King Street has been substantially altered in the 20th century to create three commercial units. The first floor remains more uniform, with five similar sash windows set in moulded architraves with glazing bars: three windows have 4x4 panes and two have 3x4 panes. A single gabled dormer window sits above the central first-floor window, containing a two-light casement with 4x3 panes. The ground floor features a central 19th-century doorway with a simple hood, now fitted with a 20th-century six-panelled door with a glazed upper section. Adjacent is a three-light window with sashes and a single horizontal glazing bar, dating from the 19th century. To the east, a shop front comprises three arch-headed openings with plain moulded architraves and a central keystone; the outer pair have recessed plate-glass windows, the centre has recessed double fully-glazed doors. To the west, a recessed 20th-century triple shop window and door arrangement mimics the style of medieval shop openings with lower wooden panels. Within this recess, the original jetty joists are visible, including two larger principal joists, one retaining a mortice for a jetty bracket.

The west elevation to Cross Street shows a plainer first floor, while the ground floor preserves four four-centred arch-headed medieval shop openings and a similar door head at the north end. The spandrels are decorated with rose, leaf and dragon motifs. A 19th-century doorway with pilasters and a cornice hood is now inset, with upper glazing containing 3x3 panes. This ground floor shop front was originally recessed beneath a jetty but has been cut free and repositioned flush to the upper wall when windows were blocked; these have since been reopened and regla­zed during 20th-century refurbishment.

The rear south elevation dates from around 1800 and comprises a plastered rectangular range with a gabled wing offset to the east, clad in weatherboarding and topped by an exterior central gable stack. A deep 19th-century lean-to in red brick and slate adjoins the west side, with upper weatherboarding and a large four-light 20th-century fixed window running its length. Three stacks rise through the rear roof pitch. Windows are predominantly from around 1800, with sashes and glazing bars; on the west side of the projecting wing they are particularly notable. The ground floor runs west to east with two five-by-four paned sashes separated by a 19th-century door with upper glazing and a bead-moulded lower panel, topped by a 20th-century slated bracketed hood. The wing has two 20th-century four-by-four paned sashes flanking its stack. The first floor, running west to east, has two five-by-four paned sashes and one three-by-four paned sash, with further examples above (the floor levels vary). The west side of the projecting wing displays a 19th-century triple-light sash window on the first floor with 1x2, 2x2, 1x2 pane divisions. The east end of the range has no window but retains traces of panelled combed pargetting.

The interior preserves significant medieval framing. The west end displays exposed principal framing with a dragon beam at the north-west corner, which originally supported jetties to both King Street and Cross Street. A clear construction break distinguishes the Cross Street wing from the main King Street range. A small 19th-century cast-iron fireplace is set in the stack at the junction of the two blocks; nearby is an 18th-century corner cupboard positioned in the outer angle below the dragon beam, featuring an inner shell head and broken pediment with Greek key frieze decoration. Beneath the ground floor lies a chalk-cut cellar.

The first floor shows jowled posts confirming the arrangement of the main range and right-angled wing. Two large window apertures, now blocked, mark the medieval shop front in Cross Street; a small two-light window site (retaining shutter, mullion mortice and sill mortice) survives at the rear of the street range in the next bay to the east. The centre and east portions of the range have been extensively rebuilt and are now largely obscured, but reveal a sequence of linear additions. A ground-floor jetty post and bracket support what was once an exterior, tension-braced partition wall. To the east lies a second similar wall frame plus further extension. Towards the rear, a large segmented-headed fireplace occupies the ground floor, with a small, refined late 18th-century cast-iron grate on the floor above. The roof has been raised by approximately 0.5 metres to accommodate the present facade, and earlier wall plates and jowled posts are visible, rising slightly towards the east end.