9 And 11, King Street

This is a house with a shop, dating to the early 16th century, with alterations from around 1800 and the 19th century. It is situated in Saffron Walden. The building is timber-framed and plastered, with some exposed timber framing and gault brickwork. The roof is hipped and slated.

The building is three stories and has a rectangular plan, with a slight reduction in width on the west side at the rear. The north elevation, which faces King Street, has a full-width shop window on the ground floor, with plate glass above a tiled dwarf wall and a glazed doorway. The first and second floors each have two windows. The first floor windows are sashes with glazing bars, set within moulded architraves. The first floor windows have 3x4 panes, while the second floor windows have 3x3 panes. The first floor has exposed timber framing with regular studding and four blocked frieze windows, each of three lights with roll and hollow moulded mullion bars. These are arranged in a continuous line, interrupted by two larger window openings. Peg evidence indicates the former location of low-set sills for two original tripartite frieze windows, with cuts showing windows that were inserted between the medieval and existing window types. A 19th-century brick stack is set back on the west side. The east elevation, which faces Market Passage, continues the shop frontage, although the southern end now has boarded-in windows and a glazed door. The rear, southern elevation is irregular, with 19th-century brick walling. The ground floor has a 19th-century three-sided bay window with a slate roof and sashes and a segment-headed doorway with a 19th-century door of six recessed panels. The first floor has three segment-headed windows, one with a 19th-century sash and the other two with 20th-century double casements. The second floor has one 19th-century sash window with glazing bars (3x3 panes) and one small 20th-century casement.

The interior ground floor has been rebuilt for shop use and is of 20th-century construction. The first floor reveals the principal timber framing, including posts, plates, and tie-beams. At the rear, behind a brick wall, are jowled end posts and a central post with chamfered sides, stopping down to a high point, suggesting the location of windows originally on either side. A lamb’s tongue chamfer stop on the west post indicates a later phase of construction than the main front range. The minor inset on the west side of the plan may show a building break. The second floor was clearly raised over the original wall head at first floor level, as indicated by the hip rafters at all corners.