7, 8 And 9, St Johns Street

Nos. 7, 8, and 9 St John's Street is a house that has been divided into shops with storage above. It dates from the 15th century, with 16th century and later alterations. The building is timber-framed and rendered, with old plain tiles on the roof.

The structure has two storeys and attics and is a much-altered example of a Wealden house. Originally, it featured a two-bay open hall flanked by a jettied wing on the north, all under a single roofline. In the 16th century, the northern bay of the hall was ceiled over and jettied. The remaining recessed hall bay has an overhang supported by small solid brackets. The upper storey has no windows and lacks internal access from below or from adjacent buildings.

The ground storey contains shop premises, which extend into No. 6 to the south. The two jettied bays, now part of Nos. 8 and 9, both house shop premises. The first storey features three large-paned sash windows in flush cased frames. There are also three segmental-headed lead-covered dormers with rendered cheeks, each containing two-light casement windows with a single bar to the lights. The ground storey has 20th century shop fronts.

Inside, No. 8 has exposed timbers on each storey, part of the original rear wall with studding, and a later rear extension. A main beam shows mortices for a former service end partition. No. 9 does not have any original features exposed, but during the restoration of the adjoining property, the roof was observed to have a plain crown-post.