3 And 4, Market Place

A pair of shops and residential flats, originally dating to the 16th century, largely rebuilt in the early 18th century and reworked in the late 18th century. The building was re-roofed in 1975 and restored and re-roofed again after a fire in 1991. It sits on a 14th-century brick undercroft. The building has a timber-frame structure.

The main south facade is of two storeys and six bays, constructed with gault brick. It features two doorways with pilaster doorcases, metope block entablatures, and open pediments, above which are Y-tracery fanlights. Shop display windows are interspersed with the doorways. Six sash windows at the first floor were removed at the time of review. A dentil eaves cornice runs along the top, and there is a gabled roof. Stacks are located to the rear and east side. The east face is rendered and colourwashed, with an external stack to the left and two 6/6 sash windows on each floor to the right, one of which is blocked. A rear extension incorporates two early 19th-century blocks, creating a double-pile plan. The rear elevation is flint faced with gault brick dressings.

The interior of No. 3 includes a rear porch that communicates directly with the front door via a straight passage. A staircase with stick balusters, a ramped and wreathed handrail is present. In No. 4, a section of early 18th-century timber framing is visible. The roofs date mostly from 1991, with the exception of one 16th-century cranked tie beam in the front range. No. 4 has a 20th-century staircase. A mid-16th century bressumer is present above the rear fireplace and it features a reeded and fluted frieze.

The undercroft is accessible from a hatch in the rear of No. 4. Brick steps lead down to a barrel-vaulted passage, which opens into a brick chamber with a sexpartite vault, featuring plain-chamfered brick ribs and polygonal corbels. There are no bosses. To the east, a second chamber, previously with a quadripartite vault (ribs now removed and ceiling boarded), is accessed through a double-chamfered stilted arch. A doorway to the west leads to a smaller chamber, formerly quadripartite-vaulted, now used as a coal cellar with a chute leading to the street.