55A,55B,57,59,61 AND 63, HIGH STREET

This is a row of eight almshouses, now converted into six dwellings, dating from 1873. They were likely designed by G. Devey for Abel Smith of Woodhall Park. The building is constructed of red brick, with portions rendered in roughcast and featuring mock timber framing and tile hanging. The roofs are tiled. The architectural style is Domestic Revival, with an informal arrangement of different heights and gables.

To the left of the centre is a projecting, gable-fronted bay. The ground floor has a flush-frame, three-light, small-paned casement window. Above this is a roughcast and mock timber-framed gable with a similar four-light casement and a moulded bargeboard. To the right is a lower bay with an entrance sheltered by a raking tiled hood and a datestone. It includes a small roughcast gable with a two-light window and moulded bargeboard. A lower, four-bay range extends further to the right, with the roof sweeping down to ground-floor level. Two entrances are recessed, with two/three-glazed doors and flanking two-light casements. Above the right entrance is a steeply pitched gable with a two-light casement and moulded bargeboard. Three bays extend to the left of this gable. The first floor overhangs, with two entrances featuring chamfered Tudor arches, one, two, and three-light casements. Brackets support a moulded bressumer; the first floor has close studding, and a tile-hung gablet is present. The left return angle is canted, with a ground-floor 1:2:1 arrangement and a five-light casement on the first floor. The roof has a hip. The left return has an overhanging bay that continues with a tile-hung gable to the rear. A lower two-bay link block incorporates an entrance, and a set-back projecting gable fronted bay features a cove to the overhanging first floor, which is roughcast and supported by a moulded bressumer. A canted oriel and brackets are positioned below a moulded beam to another projecting gable with a moulded bargeboard. Red brick stacks are situated on the ridges, with moulded bases to multiple square and diagonally set shafts and oversailing caps. There are cross-axial stacks to the centre and right, and an axial stack to the left. External offsets are on the right end and to the rear left. Multiple gables are present to the rear of the taller range. The interior has not been inspected. Attached to the right gable end and projecting forward is a Tudor carriage arch with a keystone and dentilled brick course. The building is included for group value.