13 and 14, The Traverse

This property comprises two shops, originally a house, dating back to the 16th century with a front range built in the 17th century, and a later 19th-century facade. It is timber-framed with a distinctive tile-hung front, featuring alternating plain and fishscale bands. The roof is slate, with simple bargeboards and a decorative soffit.

The front of the building has four windows, with the upper two storeys featuring sash windows, each with a single vertical glazing bar in wooden frames. These are framed by heavy, pedimented stucco architraves featuring keystones and decorative brackets. The ground floor has two early 20th-century shop fronts with ornate console brackets supporting their fascias.

The rear of the building, facing Skinner Street, forms part of a timber-framed and jettied range dating from around 1500. It has a plaintiled roof. The rear has two storeys and an attic, and the upper storey exhibits exposed timber framing. Evidence of three phases of window alteration is visible: the remains of two original windows, replaced by a long 17th-century mullioned window (now blocked), and subsequently replaced by two early 19th-century sash windows with 12 panes in flush cased frames. The jetty’s ends are exposed beneath a moulded and embattled bressumer.

The interior of No.13 includes a modernised cellar with a linking archway constructed of flint and Tudor brick, connecting the front and rear sections. The ground and first storeys feature exposed main cross-beams with small chamfers and scroll stops. Original studding is visible along the ground storey of the north wall. In No.14, the ground floor has been modernised and lacks original features. The first storey mirrors the cross-beam style of No.13 and retains one supporting post from the original rear wall, with the rest cut away. A previously wide passageway separated the front and rear ranges, now covered by a roof. A central tie-beam on the first storey is supported by long arched braces, and a 17th-century upper ceiling, likely with a partition wall (now removed), has been inserted. The attic contains remains of a crown-post roof, though the crown post itself has been removed, leaving mortices in the collar purlin. The two-bay rear of No.14 is just a portion of a longer range shared with other premises on The Traverse.