Haywards

Haywards is a shop and offices that were originally built as a house in the late 14th century, with alterations made in the early 19th century. The building has two storeys and features four windows. It is a three-cell open hall house constructed with a timber frame, which is encased in early 19th-century gault brick. The roof is made of concrete tiles and has three red brick chimneys at the rear. The early 19th-century windows have flat arches made of gauged brick and small-pane sash designs. The entrance doorway, positioned at a cross-entry, features a six-panelled door and a blind semi-circular fanlight with a gauged brick head.

Inside, the building retains a complete 14th-century roof structure, which includes a slightly cambered tiebeam, an octagonal crownpost with a moulded capital and base, and thick four-way braces that show heavy smoke-blackening. The close-studding is exposed on the first storey, representing an early example of this construction technique. There are long splayed and tabled scarf joints with undersquinted butts. A two-centred arched doorway was discovered during alterations, but it is now concealed or missing, with no framing visible at the ground storey.