3, Bridewell Street

No. 3 Bridewell Street, formerly known as Oak House, is a house and shop that is now used for domestic purposes only. It dates from the early 17th century, probably around 1616. The building is timber-framed with brick and has a roof covered with black glazed pantiles at the front and concrete tiles at the rear. The front features a shop with a domestic hall located in the rear cross wing. It has two storeys and a dormer attic, with a plastered facade.

The central entrance has a panelled door set in an original sunk-quadrant moulded frame with stops, and there is a mullioned three-light overlight above the door. To the left, there is a 17th-century shop front with a similar timber surround, fitted with detachable 19th-century windows. On the right, there is an early 19th-century sash window with glazing bars. The jettied first floor is lit by two late 18th-century three-light metal casements. The gabled roof features a gabled dormer with a casement window. The east gable is stepped brick with an internal stack, while the west side of the rear hall wing is jettied but now underbuilt. There is one three-light early 19th-century Gothick casement window to the right, located under part of the coved jetty, along with various other three-light casements.

Inside, the building has a close studded frame with jowled principal studs and straight corner braces. A passage that formerly led from the door to the interior bypassed the shop but still provided access to it. There are winders by the stacks and leading to the hall range. The spine beams have sunk-quadrant mouldings and tongue stops, while the rear wing features a chamfered spine beam. The first-floor room above the ground-floor hall has a sunk-quadrant moulded bridging beam that terminates in tongue and side stops. The roof has mostly been renewed but was originally of the clasped purlin type with cut-back principal rafters and cambered collars.