41 And 43, Castle Street

Nos. 41 and 43 Castle Street, Saffron Walden

A timber-framed and plastered house of the early 16th century, now divided into two units. It is one of three Wealden recessed hall houses standing in a row on Castle Street. The building is of two storeys with a peg-tiled roof and red brick stack. The plan is L-shaped, consisting of the original street range with 19th and 20th century rear additions extending northward behind No. 43.

The south elevation shows the characteristic Wealden form with a broad recessed bay to the west and a shorter jettied bay to the east. The integral roof features typical Wealden exterior arched braces rising to flying eaves over the western bay. Single windows appear on each floor in each bay.

At ground floor level, running west to east, there is a doorway of a passageway through to the rear (door of 20th century date, boarded with an upper iron grilled light), a 19th century bay window with glazing bars of 11 by 4 panes, and a doorway with moulded architrave and a 19th century six-panelled door. A mid-19th century canted bay window sits beneath the jetty with glazing bars of 6 by 3 panes. At first floor level, two sash windows of 4 by 4 panes are visible. Plastering around the western window retains remnants of basket pattern pargetting with a rustic serpentine border on the east and west sides.

The north elevation features a shared continuous ground floor lean-to of 19th century brick and cobble with a slate roof. All has been refurbished in the 20th century with new doors and windows. A further extension north of No. 43 is of similar construction, with weatherboarding and a corrugated asbestos roof. No. 43 has additionally a narrow slate roof swept from the house to outshut eaves. The passageway to the street in No. 41 shows some principal outer framing with slender post-medieval stud infilling.

No. 43 displays an early 19th century sash window with glazing bars of 3 by 4 panes and moulded architrave at first floor level. No. 41 has a central two-light window with leaded panes; on each side are small narrow round-headed windows with central rectangular lifts in the soffits.

Interior features reveal the original Wealden house form. At ground floor level, the division of the original open hall and storeyed jettied end is evident, with original joists visible. A stair trap exists at the rear, together with principal posts of a spere truss towards the western end. At first floor level, the spere truss shows evidence of original arched bracing. The rear hall window rebate survives. The storeyed bay retains window shutter grooves at both back and front, with associated edge-halved and bridle-butted scarf joints in the wall top plates. A simple crown post roof, partitioned at the hall ends, retains soot.

The original form of Nos. 41 and 43 was a Wealden house with a central hall divided by a spere truss to separate the cross-entry, now occupied by the through passage at the western end to the rear. The hall proper was of a single bay, with a large window to the rear and presumably one to the front. The eastern storeyed bay was originally longer than its present street appearance suggests.

An internal doorway with a four-centred arched head was removed and is now displayed in Saffron Walden Museum. It comprises one doorway of a service pair and has a central post with seating for a second head, cyma and hollow chamfer moulding. The museum also holds a copy of recorded wall paintings described as a cross-hatched vase with flowers and zig-zag black lines. The house was originally a full Wealden house; the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England recorded the removal of a western storeyed (low) bay. The preserved service doorway would have come from the present western end of the building, adjoining Bellingham Buildings. Identical construction in Nos. 45 and 47 implies a common building date, with the original eastern end of the building appearing to lie within No. 45 at a crown post truss.