44 And 46, High Street

This is a house, originally one dwelling, now divided into two, dating from the 15th or 16th century. It has been altered in the 19th and 20th centuries. The house is timber-framed, with some sections brick-cased, and is finished with roughcast and whitewash. It has a steeply pitched tiled roof. The original design included a small hall, which was initially open, and a lower two-storey cross wing. The hall is now one storey with an attic. The front of the hall has one bay with a brick facade, featuring an entrance to the left and a two-light casement window within segmental-headed reveals. A two-light gabled dormer window is also present. A projecting two-bay cross wing, originally jettied, is located to the left. The ground floor of the cross wing is brick, with an entrance and a fishscale slate-roofed bay window supported by brackets. The first floor has a two-light flush frame casement. Exposed plates and purlins are visible. The left return of the cross wing features an external 19th-century stack. The rear of the building has an entrance, a ground-floor two-light small-pane flush metal frame casement, and a single small light on the first floor. Exposed rafters can be seen here. The ridge of the cross wing is lower than that of the hall. At the rear, a catslide roof covers a lean-to extension to the hall, which has undergone 20th-century alterations. A weatherboarded gable to the rear of the cross wing incorporates a slate-roofed lean-to. The interior was not inspected but is reported to contain exposed timber framing of large scantling with close studding. Group value stems from its architectural and historical contribution to the Watton-at-Stone High Street.