Numbers 61, 61A, 61B, And 63 Including Doorway To Number 59 (Not Included)

NUMBERS 61, 61A, 61B, AND 63 INCLUDING DOORWAY TO NUMBER 59 (NOT INCLUDED), WARE TOWN

This complex of buildings on the south side of the High Street comprises the former sites of two inns, with interlocked subdivisions and multiple phases of construction. The ground floor of No.61 originally contained a carriageway on the left, now obscured by mid-20th-century infilling that forms the entrance to the adjacent National Westminster Bank (No.59, not of special interest and not included). The remainder of the ground floor is now part of a pharmacy. The first floor and attics above Nos.59 and 61, and the rear outshoot of No.61 (listed as Nos.61A and 61B), are now accessible from within No.63.

The buildings date from the early 15th century, with significant alterations in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. They are timber-framed and plastered with old tiled roofs throughout.

EXTERIOR

The principal range presents two storeys with attics to the rear. No.59 has a roof ridge parallel to the street, while Nos.61 and 63 have triple gables facing the street, with a linking roof behind the twin gables of No.63. Behind No.61 stands a tall square red brick chimneystack with an oversailing course and four pots.

No.59 features a jettied first floor with three two-light wood casement windows, an eaves cornice, and sprocketed eaves. The colourwashed plaster ground floor has the 20th-century infilled carriageway at left and a 19th-century canted bay window with glazing-bar sashes to the right.

Nos.61 and 63 share a continuous jettied first floor faced with masonry-lined stucco, carried on curved wooden brackets. Two triple-light flush sash windows with glazing bars are set within this jetty. At the right, one long canted multi-pane triple sash window forms an oriel.

No.61 has a 19th-century shopfront beneath the jetty, altered in the early 20th century. It comprises flanking timber pilasters with carved consoles, a recessed entrance with twin-leaf glazed doors between display windows, and arcaded heads modified to incorporate plate glass above a terrazzo stallriser. Beyond the carriageway to the right, the ground floor has a canted bay window with glazing-bar sashes in the upper panes only, flanked on either side by blocked 17th-century six-light mullion and transom windows with ovolo-profiled members. The central carriageway exposes timber-framing above protective boarding, with twin ogee-headed blocked doorways at left and close studwork with a blocked rectangular-headed door at right. A three-light mullion and transom window sits over the carriageway beneath a hipped old tiled roof with a 20th-century casement attic dormer.

The 17th-century rear outshoot to No.61, right of the carriageway, is two storeys with old tiled roofs. Its plastered timber-framed first floor and colourwashed brick ground floor have 20th-century casement windows, including a canted bay window at right on the ground floor.

A southern weatherboarded range is two storeys. The long 17th-century rear outshoot behind No.63, at left of the yard, is two storeys with old tiled roofs featuring two box dormers close to the rear of the main frontage ranges. A tall slab-like red brick chimneystack with oversailing courses rises from this range. Plaster over timber-framing provides the finish, with irregularly spaced casement, mullion and transom windows, and two flush-set sash windows on the ground floor to the left of the recessed entrance door to No.63, located immediately beyond the carriageway. Further south, a 19th-century yellow brick outshoot with Welsh slated roof is linked to a former malting (not included).

INTERIORS

The interiors retain many early features. No.61 contains a 15th-century two-bay crown post roof above the front range. The first floor has the upper part of a newel stair at the rear of the front range and 18th-century fire surrounds with shouldered architraves. The left-hand first floor room contains an 18th-century bolection-moulded fire surround with a panelled overmantel. The insertion of the shopfront and rebuilding of the ground floor involved moving the left-hand timber-framing of the carriageway, which does not align with the first floor structure above.

The centre room, partly over the carriageway arch and now accessible as part of the first floor of No.63, contains a late 14th- or early 15th-century timber-framed structure with curved braces and remains of a central arch brace truss featuring a heavily cambered tie-beam. This appears originally to have carried a crown post, which seems to have been removed from the loft space above the ceiling.

The ground floor front room of No.63 contains an early 20th-century polished limestone Tudor-arched fireplace with Delft tile inserts. The staircase at the rear, accessed from the yard, features open well newel construction spanning six flights, with recessed panels and moulded caps, moulded handrails, and barleysugar twist balusters. The room behind the panelled staircase hall, within the outshoot, is panelled to door head level and has an early 18th-century fire surround with bold bolection moulding, apparently a former dining room. The adjacent room, a former kitchen, contains a four-light early 17th-century window with ovolo-profile mullions, exposed internally.

On the first floor, the principal front room displays exposed studwork revealed after panelling was removed and sold for shipment to the United States in the 1920s. It features a barrel-vaulted plaster ceiling with ornamental spandrels at either end. The front spandrel contains Jacobean strapwork and the date 1624 in roundels, with ornamental birds, hares, and fleur-de-lys in silhouette. The rear spandrel, above the fireplace, contains strapwork with two birds in silhouette and a central roundel with the initials IHS (Jesus Hominum Salvator) surmounted by a fleur-de-lys. The roof structure above was altered to accommodate the plaster vault but appears originally to have been of the crown post type. The room is known as The Chapel and was possibly entered by a stair in the right-hand front corner, leading from a central ground floor door that was removed when the canted bay window was installed.

HISTORICAL NOTE

No.63 was recorded as The Royal Oak Inn in 1664. No.59 was recorded as The Cross Keys and Ram Inn in 1599. No.61 was recorded as The Coach and Horses Inn in 1723 and remained a tavern until 1843, when it became a pharmacy with the insertion of its present shopfront. Thomas Docwra owned No.63 in the 18th century and operated a malting at the rear. Nos.61A and 61B were first listed on 14 March 1974.