2, West Street

This is a house, now used as a shop with offices above, located in Ware. The building incorporates elements from the mid- to late-13th century, originally timber-framed, with a front bay rebuilt in the 18th century. It was renovated in 1980. The structure is timber-framed with stuccoed walls and an old tiled roof edged with Welsh slate, featuring a box casement dormer. The building is three bays wide, set at a right angle to the street.

The building is two storeys and attics. The first floor has a flush-set sash window with glazing bars, exposed boxes, and architrave surrounds. The ground floor has a 1980 shopfront with a recessed entrance on the left and a display window divided into three by mullions.

The interior was renovated and partially opened up in 1980, revealing timber framing at the rear, which was recorded. Two bays of the original framing remain, though one was shortened during the 18th-century reconstruction. A first-floor was added in the late 16th century, and an 18th-century attic floor has since been removed. A fireplace and centrally placed chimneystack are present, though considerably altered.

Surviving timber framing includes an open roof truss, exhibiting stop-chamfered spine beams with run-out stops. It is braced by a thick, curved brace to the principal posts, with straight passing braces of square section, notch lapped to the principal posts, trenched and pegged to the tie-beam, crossing a collar, and bare-face lap dovetailed to the rafters. The renovation allowed for the reconstruction of this truss. A smoke gablet with an external bonnet was originally positioned over the north hipped end of the roof. Several rafters from the east roof slope, including the bonnet and hip rafter, remain. Original studding below the wall plate indicates an unusually wide spacing, along with the presence of a middle rail, which was later replaced, using notched lap joints. One primary tension brace, connecting the wall plate to the principal post survives. The presence of triangular mortices suggests that others once existed.

Based on the truss typology and notched lap dovetail joints, a construction date of circa 1260 has been suggested. The smoke-blackened rafters and gablet indicate that the building was initially open to the roof and may have served as a kitchen rather than an open hall. The presence of a second inclined rafter on the western roof slope suggests it may originally have been a service wing to a hall on the adjacent site, now No. 3 West Street (rebuilt in the 19th century). The west wall was altered in the 16th century with the insertion of a first floor and long, multiple-light windows. The front of the building was rebuilt in the early 18th century using largely softwood framing.