31-37, HIGH STREET

Originally a single house, now divided into three, the building at 31-37 High Street dates to the mid-16th century, with a slightly later wing to the rear. It is timber-framed, featuring exposed close studding and cranked reverse-curved braces to the upper floor. The roof is plain-tiled at the front and pantiled at the rear. The building is two storeys and has an attic. A continuous jetty extends to the street, supported by brackets springing from carved buttress-shafts; the bressummer displays rope-pattern carving. The upper floor has three 3-light casement windows, one with square-leaded glass, positioned where three original oriel windows once were, with their deep sills still visible below. Between these windows is a single-light casement and a window dating to circa 1600, with ovolo mullions and a carved sill. Two projecting shop windows from circa 1900 flank the right-hand window, each with twelve panes. To either side of the right-hand shop window are remnants of a further window dating from circa 1600, also with a carved sill. The front has two central sash windows, one with panelled shutters. The front entrance is a one-plank door to the left and a two-panelled door to the right. Boarded garage doors are situated to the extreme left. An internal stack incorporates a 19th-century shaft. Inside No. 37, a ground-floor room contains a late 16th-century monochrome wall painting depicting winged mythical beasts, centered around a circular panel with the red monogram of William and Mary Motts. Studs on the opposite wall reveal traces of a similar design, with a further monogram on the crossbeam above. The roof features queen-post trusses alternating with arch-braced collars; the braces to the latter are now missing. The roof was originally visible from the first floor and its design suggests the building initially served a public purpose. The interior of Nos. 31-33, which are now a single dwelling, has not been examined.