Pykenham

Pykenham, formerly the Royal Oak Inn, is a remarkable 15th to 16th century timber-framed and plastered building located on Northgate Street. It features exposed timber-framing and has a cross wing at the south end, which has a long frontage on Oak Lane. The upper storey jetties out on both fronts, supported by carved bressumers on curved brackets, capitals, and shafts. The building has been significantly restored but retains many original features.

It stands two storeys high with attics and has a three-window range on Northgate Street, showcasing mullioned windows, some with transoms, and lattice leaded lights. The cross wing includes an oriel bay window with a moulded sill. There are long rows of small mullioned windows connecting the ground and first storey windows. The gable of the cross wing slightly projects on a moulded bressumer, and the first-floor bressumer is intricately carved with fish, likely pike. A finely detailed corner post is adorned with carvings, including one of a blacksmith, while the gable's bargeboards feature vine ornamentation. The attics are illuminated by a window in the gable.

The entrance has an open porch with a four-centred arch and carved spandrels, leading to an inner battened door. The Oak Lane frontage retains several original window openings with moulded sills. In the early 20th century, the house was extended to the north by F G Cotman, who resided there, incorporating some original timbers into the extension. The roofs are tiled, featuring one flat-headed dormer on the Oak Lane side.

Pykenham is part of a group of listed buildings on Northgate Street, which includes No 43 (Great White Horse Hotel) on Tavern Street, No 2 Great Colman Street, part of Nos 2 to 12 (even) St Margaret's Plain, and it also forms a group with St Mary Le Tower Church House on Oak Lane and St Mary-Le-Tower Church on Tower Street.