49, 49A, AND 51, HIGH STREET

This is a house, later used as shops and offices, dating from the late 16th or early 17th century, with alterations in the 19th and 20th centuries. It is timber-framed and has a roughcast exterior with applied timbers. The roof is tiled, with older tiles on number 49 and modern tiles on number 51. The building is an L-shaped hall house. It has two storeys and an attic with a double jetty to the front and left return. The front has three windows. The ground floor has shop fronts, and the central entrance has a reeded surround dating from the early 19th century. The first floor has three sash windows with leaded panes; the central window is smaller. Applied timber studs with ogee heads are visible on each panel. The jettied attic rests on shaped corbels and has decorative applied timber. A central gabled dormer window has two leaded lights. A large central ridge stack has a central square shaft and two diagonal shafts. The left gable end has casement windows and ovolo moulded bressumers. Original brackets remain below the sill of the first-floor window. Some original timber framing has been restored with 19th-century applied studs. A timber-framed cross wing to the rear right has a cement roughcast finish, a slightly lower ridge line, and an exposed purlin in the rear gable. Further additions are visible at the rear. Inside, there are ovolo moulded axial binding beams with bar stops and a clasped purlin roof.