32-52, Ermine Street

These model estate houses were built in 1864, 1888, and 1901, as indicated by datestones. A stone plaque at numbers 44 and 46 reads "18 CH 64 / THESE COTTAGES WERE ERECTED TO THE MEMORY OF / CAROLINE HANBURY / THE WIFE OF ROBERT HANBURY JUNIOR M P / WHO DIED OCT 24TH 1863 / FOR ME TO LIVE AS CHRIST / AND TO DIE IS GAIN." Plaque inscriptions at numbers 32 and 34 read "ESH & AH / 1888", and those at numbers 50 and 52 read “ESH & AH / 1901”. The houses are constructed with red brick, varying in color to reflect their period of construction, with a yellow brick band at the upper floor level, and a steep slate sill below each window. The rear walls are uniformly built of yellow stock brick with segmental arches. The roofs are covered in red tiles. The houses have a double-pile plan with separate, parallel pitched roofs for the front and rear sections. Each front is arranged as handed pairs of houses accessed through a recessed porch with a single opening from the street. The central group, numbers 40-48, comprises two and a half pairs of houses; number 48 on the left is separated by a passage with an arched entrance. A second group, numbers 32-38, consists of two pairs adjacent and uphill to the right. The third group, numbers 50-52, is a single pair on the left, adjoining number 48. The design of the 1864 group was repeated in the later phases of construction. The houses are two storeys high. Features include a chamfered plinth that steps down with the slope of the land, a symmetrical front to the earliest pair with a central entrance under a pointed flat arch, featuring chamfered and shouldered jambs. There is one flat pointed arched window on each floor of each house, with twin flat pointed gables. These have small paned, two-light casement windows with a top light above each transome. The buildings were built for the Hanbury family of Poles, and contribute significantly to the character of the village street. This is an unusually urban housing type.