The Saddlery

The Saddlery is a house and shop that has been converted into a single residence. The north wing along the roadside dates from around 1600 or earlier, while the gabled east wing was built around 1700, and the lower south extension, which aligns with it, was added around 1750. The building features a timber frame that is cased in painted brickwork, stucco, or weatherboarding, with steep old red tile roofs. It is an L-shaped structure facing west, consisting of two storeys and one and a half storeys, with a cellar beneath the former shop in the east wing that faces the road.

On the west side of the south extension, there are two gabled dormers at the eaves, and below these is a flush box sash window with ten panes on the left, along with a lean-to made of painted brick that has a glazed door. There is a large internal chimney with an 18th-century top at the junction of the east wing and the south extension. The lower north wing is now cased in painted brick on the north side and has painted brick infill on the west end, featuring a jettied roughcast gable above. This gable includes a sash window with three panes by three panes and two two-light casements below. The rear has painted brick outshuts, and there is a two-light fixed window on the upper floor of the east range, each with thirty small panes.

Inside, the building retains exposed framework and the remains of a jetty along the north side of the north wing beside the road. It also features ovolo-moulded plank doors. The upper room of the south extension, which was formerly the village reading room, has an open timber roof with very wide tapered king-posts supporting trusses, with side purlins carried on the principal rafters. The building was formerly known as Water End Post Office and Stores.