12 and 14, Old Cross

A pair of houses at 12 and 14 Old Cross, Hertford, dates to the late 15th and early 16th centuries (No.14) and the 17th century (No.12), with alterations and restoration work carried out in the 1940s following bomb damage. The construction is timber-framed and plastered, with brick underbuilding and pitched roofs covered in old tiles. A central square brick stack features four clustered octagonal shafts with oversailing courses; a 20th-century red brick stack is located at the north end of No.14.

The exterior is two storeys high. The first floor of No.14 has a jetty, exposing timber framing with curved braces and a 20th-century three-light lattice-leaded window. The ground floor has single three- and two-light lattice-glazed casement windows. On No.12’s first floor, two three-light casements flank a smaller two-light casement; the ground floor has two three-light casements and a recessed modern hardwood door. A shallow jetty marks the line of the first floor. The rear elevation has irregularly placed plain-glazed wood casement windows, and a 20th-century glazed door. The roof of No.12 is hipped, sloping down to meet the lower roof of No.14, with an upstand gablet above the ridge.

Interior alterations were extensive, especially during the postwar rebuilding. The cross wing (No.14) features a raised first floor and a truncated crown post roof with a plain post, fore and aft bracing, and a ceiling at collar level. Mullion window positions and shutter grooves are visible. The ground floor has an ogee-headed door opening in a stud partition. No.12 has a narrow central smoke bay containing a brick chimney with restored, altered fireplace openings.