Numbers 5 and 7 (Old Joiners)

Two adjoining houses, numbers 5 and 7, are located in Benington. Number 5 is a 16th-century open hall house, with a floor and chimney inserted in the 17th century, and the front raised at that time. A rear wing was added around 1980. Number 7 appears to be a 17th-century structure, possibly an extension to number 5, and was altered in the 19th century to function as a separate house. Both houses have timber frames with weatherboarded aprons to the front. Number 5 has a white weatherboarded front, but the west gable is plastered. Number 7 is roughcast. They share a continuous roof of old red tiles, extending over a rear outshut. Number 5 has a central chimney of old red brick with an ovolo-moulded cap. Number 7 has an internal east gable chimney, and number 5 has a later external red brick west gable chimney. Number 5 is a two-storey, three-cell plan house facing south, characterized by a large central chimney rising through the front roof slope, and features three windows on each floor, with two and three-light flush casements. A small boarded door, accessed by two steps, incorporates a plaque inscribed 'MDX'. Inside, the hall displays chamfered and stopped axial beams and joists, a large open fireplace, an edge-halved scarf with bridled butts in the old wallplate, head sockets for a former hall window, a diamond mullioned window in the former east wall, soot blackened rafters in a clasped purlin roof with a curved wind brace, wattle-and-daub panels, curved tension braces, and an exposed timber frame. Number 7 is a two-storey, two-cell, end-chimney plan house facing south, with a rear outshut. The front has two windows to the first floor, and the ground floor features a door on the left and a canted bay window to the right. The boarded door has a glass bullion panel and a rectangular fanlight with a drip-board supported by shaped brackets. A large red brick gable chimney is located at the east end.