48, 48A, 48B AND 48C, HIGH STREET

This is a house, now divided into a house, flat, and shop, dating from the 17th century or earlier. It is located on the west side of High Street in Markyate. The roof was reconstructed in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, and the front is brick with a rear wing likely replacing an earlier service wing. An early 19th century range was added parallel to the rear, probably replacing a smaller stair tower. A brick casing was added to the north end of the front range and an infill of two storeys closed a former gap at the south end of the front range. Later 19th-century shopfronts now occupy the street front, and a Coronation Clock was erected in 1911 at the southeast corner. The interior has been altered in the mid-20th century.

The front of the building is red brick, chequered with blue. The rear wing is red brick, while the south end, north end, and parallel rear range use plum brick with red brick arches. The roofs are steep and covered with old red tiles, except for the parallel rear range which has a lower-pitched slate roof. The house is an L-shaped, two-storey building with a cellar, and the front faces east. It has three first-floor windows and a small window on the northeast angle. The windows are recessed sash windows with plastered reveals and 2/2 panes, located under a corbelled, dentilled eaves course. A pilastered shopfront with a continuous fascia and cornice features a recessed half-glazed door to the north half, with separate doors and windows to the south half. The first floor of the parallel rear range has three recessed sash windows with 8/8 panes and plastered reveals, all under flat, gauged arches.

Inside, there are exposed timbers in the cross partition of the front range. The lower part of this partition is said to have been wattle and daub, with wall paintings noted during its removal. The cellar below the larger south bay is flint and brick walled and contains a three-bay range with two rear-wall lateral chimneys. The roof is a butt-purlin construction with old, flat rafters reversed and staggered, in-line purlins. The 18th-century rear wing is a two-cell brick block with squared exposed joists over the rear ground floor room, and has stair trimming in the southwest corner.