6-14, St James' Street

A row of five mid-15th century shops, now comprising three separate premises at numbers 6, 8-12, and 14, located on St James’ Street, King’s Lynn. Originally designed as a small ground-floor room facing the street, with an unheated upper room or chamber above. Stacks (chimneys) were added later. The building was altered in the 20th century. The construction is timber-framed, with brick, rendered (plastered), and colourwashed surfaces. The front has 19th-century plain tiles, while the rear of number 14 has rear slopes with 20th-century concrete corrugated tiles, with the rest being 20th-century. It is two storeys high. It currently has 20th-century shopfronts. The first floor is jettied (projects slightly over the ground floor). Number 6 has an imitation sash window, while numbers 8-12 and 14 each have three sashes on the first floor. A continuous gabled roof is present. An early 18th-century ridge stack stands between numbers 8-12 and 14, and another is centrally positioned on the roof of number 14. A 20th-century two-storey brick extension occupies much of the rear, but a section of the original rear wall remains behind number 14, displaying a 16th-century brick skin with numerous patches and repairs. One blocked window shows timber mullions with an ovolo moulding. The interior has been extensively altered and opened up. On the first floor of numbers 8-12, studs (vertical timber supports) of thin dimensions indicate original internal partitions and the former extent of the shop. Straight corner braces are visible on the principal studs. Three chamfered tie beams remain. Number 14 has also been opened up. At the east end of the ground floor, two blocked brick arches with a 4-centred shape suggest the presence of a shop arcade and that there were no buildings immediately to the east in the 15th century, and that gable walls were built with brick. Studs on the first floor define three original rooms, probably individual chambers above separate shops. The roof is of a rectangular shape, featuring crown posts with braces to the tie beams and arched braces to the crown purlin, which is largely missing. Where the purlin remains, it has mortices (holes) for stud partitions. Many collars and rafters have been replaced. The roof extends over the entire range.