1a 2 2a 2b, East Street

This is a substantial house, originally subdivided with ground floor shops, dating from the 17th century or earlier, with significant alterations in the early 18th century and subsequent shopfront replacements in the 19th and 20th centuries. A rainwater head dated 1709, bearing the initials J D, indicates the ownership of Jonathan Dickinson, a London maltster, banker, and brewer, who was responsible for the early 18th-century rebuilding. Further rainwater heads, dated 1740 (on the Bluecoat Yard side) and 1742 (at the rear facing New Road), suggest continued development during this period. The building features an old tiled roof hidden behind a parapet, with a partially renewed rear slope using machine tiles; a hipped roof is present at the rear of number 2B, facing Bluecoat Yard. A dormer window exists above number 1A, and another, with a modern small-paned window, is located under a red tiled hipped roof facing Bluecoat Yard. The house is timber-framed, with a facade of dark red brick accented with cherry red detailing, including a plinth and two horizontal bands with moulded bases, the latter stepping up at the ends to align with the first-floor windows. The parapet features stone coping. A group value context recognises its architectural significance.

The front elevation presents two storeys with attics and seven first-floor windows, punctuated by two dummy recesses. The windows are sashes with glazing bars, slightly recessed and framed with architraves beneath rubbed flat arches, which have alternating plain and scalloped soffits. The ground floor features three shopfronts dating from the early and mid-20th century, alongside a mid-20th century entrance door. The rear elevation of number 2B, facing Bluecoat Yard, is faced with yellow brick, and features sash windows with exposed boxes, as well as a wood-moulded eaves cornice.

Internally, remnants of early 18th-century panelling, fireplace surrounds, and cornices with dentil friezes remain. The rear of number 1A features a tall parapet concealing the roof, with a first-floor semicircular arch, formerly intended for a large Palladian or Venetian window. This arch, flanked by flat arches, was bricked up around 1830 and replaced with a small sash window with glazing bars under a segmental arch. Rear outshoots, originally a servants' wing behind number 2, are now separately numbered as 5, 5A, 7 and 7A New Road.

Historically, the site was initially associated with Place House, to the north. After acquisition by the Dickinson family in the mid-17th century, they rebuilt the property in the early 18th century and resided there until 1830. The building later suffered a period of deterioration in the late 19th and early 20th centuries when it was used as a “tramps boarding house”, before being converted to shops and a doctor’s surgery after World War II.