65 67 67A, HIGH STREET

Nos. 65, 67 and 67A, High Street, Ware

Two shops with dwellings above and to the rear, formerly The Christopher Inn. The building dates from the late 15th or early 16th century, with alterations in the 17th century, refronting in the mid 18th century, and further changes in the 19th and 20th centuries. The earliest phases are timber-framed, with later facing of plum-coloured brickwork laid to Flemish bond with cherry red dressings applied to the street frontage. The rear offshoots are faced with yellow and grey Gault brick at No. 65 and stucco at No. 67. The roofs are covered with Welsh slate and plain tiles. The building comprises a street frontage range with an off-centre carriage arch providing access to flanking ranges running at right angles to the main range. Ownership is now divided between the properties.

The street elevation rises to three storeys on the frontage, with two storeys and attics to the rear. Two rear offshoots, each of two storeys, stand to the east and west of the access way to the yard. The south-facing street elevation is divided into eight bays, with the carriage arch forming the second and third bays. The carriage arch itself has a moulded timber surround with early 19th-century moulded tracery featuring small quatrefoil and larger cinquefoil roundels, the latter bearing blank shields. The framed carriage doors consist of one small door with five recessed raised linenfold panels and one large door with fifteen similar panels, six set within a central wicket door. The door heads follow the arch profile above. The late 15th or early 16th-century timber arch beneath has moulded reveals and an elliptical head, with spandrels decorated with single blind dagger ornaments.

To the left of the carriage arch, No. 65 has a narrow 19th-century shopfront with flanking pilasters surmounted by elaborate carved console brackets. The shopfront features a timber fascia, timber stallriser, and a narrow plate display window with moulded mullion and recessed entrance. To the right of the carriage arch, No. 67 has a late 19th-century shopfront with panelled pilasters and elaborately carved console brackets containing the fascia. Arcaded display windows flank a central canted recessed entrance. The ground floors of both shops were lowered to street level in the late 19th century.

Above the carriage arch runs a moulded plat band, originally continuous across the façade before the shopfronts were inserted. The first and second floor openings follow an irregular eight-bay pattern. Bays one, three and six contain blind recesses; the remaining openings hold 19th-century divided-glazing sash windows with slightly recessed exposed sash boxes. Each opening has a moulded surround under flat rubbed brick arches with flanking quoins in cherry red brickwork. The second floor repeats this pattern with smaller square openings. A plat band with moulded cornice separates the first and second floors.

The rear offshoot to the east, belonging to No. 65, dates from the 16th century and stands two storeys high. It has been altered and is faced with stucco, with quoins at the ends set above a timber frame and over a 20th-century brick plinth. It contains three casement windows, an architraved door surround, and a rectangular fanlight between cut brackets supporting a cornice hood. The rear offshoot to the west, belonging to No. 67, is also two storeys.

The interior of the ground floor of No. 65 contains a diagonally set fireplace with a mid 18th-century bolection-moulded surround. The roof of the rear outshoot is said to contain a crown post. The ground floor of No. 67 was remodelled in the late 19th century to form shop premises. The first floor, numbered 67A, retains an early to mid 18th-century newel staircase, originally serving the ground floor, fitted with late 17th-century bobbin-pattern balusters together with mid 18th-century vase-pattern balusters. A half-landing leads to the second floor and features late 17th-century panelling. Four panelled doors with bolection mouldings open onto the first floor. The attics show evidence of raising to form a third storey during the 18th-century refronting in brick. Heavy timber-framing from the 17th century or earlier is visible in the west gable wall from the roof space of the adjoining No. 69.

The building was formerly The Christopher Inn, one of the largest inns in Ware, and is recorded as existing in 1542. The ground floor shops formed part of Harradences Drapery Department Store from 1775 to 1871, a business that extended across this building and Nos. 69, 71 and 73.