54 and 54a, Castle Street

Two houses, located at 54 and 54A Castle Street, Saffron Walden, show a combination of 17th and 18th-century construction, with 19th-century additions and 20th-century alterations. The building has a core of 17th-century timber and has been plastered and bricked, topped with a peg-tiled roof and red brick stacks. The plan is an irregular rectangle composed of two original units set at right angles, filled with two deep lean-tos forming an interior angle, and a smaller lean-to on the west side.

The north-facing front elevation features red brickwork, occasional burnt headers, dentilled eaves, and a gambrel roof with a half-hipped west end, displaying an external stack at the east end gable. There are four bays, with a doorway framed by a moulded surround and a simple cornice hood, featuring a 20th-century six-panel door with glazing. The windows are early 20th-century casements with metal frames, a three-light, a two-light, and a single two-light window on the ground floor. The first floor has three two-light windows above those below, with a blocked window aperture above the door.

The west elevation has a street-facing range with a butt jointed wing to the south. A large stack sits between these, linked by a minor roof section. A shallow two-story lean-to extends from the street range, and a second stack is positioned centrally on the wing. The wing’s half-length slated lean-to continues its length as a 20th-century conservatory with a door. Ground floor features a 20th-century three-light casement window, while above are two sash windows with horns and a single casement, all with 2x3 panes. The end wall of the street range has a two-light casement and a single-light casement in a minor lean-to at first floor level.

The east-facing elevation clearly shows the street range and wing, with a cellar trap near the external stack on the blank end wall of the street range. Deep lean-tos extend to the north, with composite tiles and including two three-light casement windows and a single-light casement. A small three-light casement window is visible in a minor roof lean-to extending from the street range. A 19th-century two-story lean-to stands to the south, constructed of brick with a corrugated asbestos roof, incorporating a ground floor segment-headed window, now a two-light casement, a simple boarded door and two three-light casement windows on the first floor. The roofline continues to the south as part of a large garage complex.

Inside No. 54, chamfered central axial joists reveal a 17th-century three-cell division of the house, with the rear block also exhibiting timber framing. The combined nature of the two houses, now linked, may suggest a 17th-century building system of closely associated houses with related families. The property was formerly the Red Lion Inn.