Whalebone House

Whalebone House is an 18th-century house, now a shop, situated on the east side of High Street in Cley Next The Sea. It is constructed primarily of Quaternary beach flint and Chert pebble and cobbles, with dressings of Lincolnshire Limestone, and has a pantile roof with a gable parapet. The building comprises two bays over two storeys, with extensions to the rear.

The front facade features a stone plinth and rusticated stone quoins. The ground floor is of large galletted broken flints with a stone platband. The first floor is of squared knapped flints, topped by an oversailing cornice of mammalian vertebrae. A central vertical band between the bays is constructed of blocks of pebble flint outlined by vertebrae. The windows have stone surrounds, with alternating stone and brick voussoirs to flat arches, each featuring a projecting keystone. The ground floor has two fixed plate glass panes per opening; the first floor has two flush sashes with glazing bars. An axial stack is located on the left-hand gable and is shared with the adjacent house. The right gable facing an alleyway is of coursed flint with stone dressings and rusticated quoins, shaped stone kneelers, a central door with a quoined stone surround and flat arch with a decorated verge. A Venetian window in stone is situated in the attic, with rendered pilaster shafts flanking the sides, and blocked and rendered side lights.

A one-and-a-half storey lean-to is attached to the right, constructed of coursed flint. It has an ashlar stone surround to the door and a late 20th-century window to the left, also with rusticated stone surrounds. An upper floor features a horizontal sliding sash with glazing bars and a brick and stone surround. A range of two-storey cottages stands to the right, built of flint and brick under pantiles. These cottages have four bays, with a tripartite sash with a segmental head to the ground floor of the first bay.

Inside, the rear lean-to contains a groined two-bay double vault constructed of rendered wood, which forms the staircase.