The Ancient House The Old Post Office

The Ancient House, also known as The Old Post Office, is a building originally constructed as a single house around 1600, now divided into two dwellings with an attached shop. There is a slightly later addition and a mid-20th century shop at the rear. The structure is timber framed with a plastered front featuring mid-20th century applied timbers. To the left, facing the road, is a red brick parapet gable end, likely original, and set forward of this is an early 17th century red brick wing that shows remnants of diaperwork, although it has undergone significant later repairs. Both brick sections are part of The Old Post Office. The building has a plaintiled roof and is two storeys high with an attic. It features 19th and 20th century casement windows with small panes and two mid-20th century doors under a combined open porch with a slated lean-to roof. There is an internal stack and a small stack to the right, both of which are later additions. The brick gable end includes a string course at the eaves level and has two blocked window openings, with the first-floor opening showing traces of the original quoined stucco surround. There is a circular attic window with remnants of a brick dripstone above it. The original windows are not perfectly centered in relation to the apex of the gable. The adjacent side wall of the brick addition features a slightly altered 18-paned late 19th century shop window. The interior has been modernized and includes plain studding, while the roof has not been examined. Until the early 20th century, there was an additional range connected to the southeast.