22 And 23, Guildhall Street

This is a house, originally dating back to the 17th century, with alterations made in the 18th century and divided into two separate dwellings in the early 19th century. The building is timber-framed and rendered with a parapet and a moulded stucco cornice. It has a plain-tiled roof, with some sections replaced in the 20th century.

The front elevation has two storeys, attic space, and cellars. It features a five-window front with 12-pane sash windows in flush cased frames. There are three flat-headed dormers with small-paned casement windows. Two matching doorways are topped with fluted half-columns, a frieze, and a segmental pediment. A long timber-framed, rendered rear range extends from No. 22, as does a double-gabled two-storey rear range from No. 23, both with various 12-pane sash windows and casement windows.

The cellars, located beneath both properties, are partially constructed of brick and flint rubble, with No. 22 containing two sections, partly modernised, and a large open fireplace with a timber lintel. No. 23’s cellar is brick-lined with timber partitions and ceiling joists. No. 22 has a restored front ground-floor room with mid-Georgian features, including a wood modillion cornice, panelled walls, a fireplace with an eared surround and egg-and-dart ornament, internal window shutters, and a door with six fielded panels. The main ceiling beam is boxed in. The entrance passage contains a staircase with turned balusters, open ornately-bracketed strings, and a wreathed handrail. An internal chimney-stack links the front and rear ranges. An upper rear room, now divided into two parts, retains the remains of a four-light ovolo-moulded mullioned window on the north wall. The original roof retains clasped purlins and cambered collars. No. 23’s entry passage runs behind a chimney-stack. C18 two-panel doors with H-L hinges, likely repositioned, are found on the upper storey. The principal rooms in both properties exhibit simple plaster cornices. The gabled rear extension displays very late timber framing with straight primary braces and bisected studs. Cambered tie-beams are visible on the top storey where the front of the roof was raised in the 18th century to accomodate the cornice.