2, St Marys Square

This is a house, dating back to the 18th century, with a core from the 15th and 17th centuries. It is constructed of red brick facing timber framing; the rear is rendered and partly jettied. The roof is tiled, with a wood modillion eaves cornice. The exterior has two storeys, a cellar, and attics. The front has a three-window range with small-paned casement windows in plain reveals, each with a finely gauged brick arch. There are three flat-headed dormers with two-light, single-bar casement windows. A central four-panel entrance door has horizontal upper and lower panels, a shallow rectangular fanlight, and a narrow panelled architrave with a flat hood supported by console brackets.

The cellar contains flint and reused stone blocks, with one very worn reset corbel head. The interior is complex and has been extensively altered, with many original features concealed and the introduction of false timbering. A room to the right of the entrance hall has a low underbuilt jetty supported on two cast-iron columns. A reconstructed fireplace on the back wall has a moulded beam inserted as a lintel. Timbering in the entrance hall is largely a later addition, though the studded wall on the left appears to be part of the original timber frame. A half bay at the west end is a fragment of the demolished No. 1 St Mary’s Square, and retains very heavy ceiling joists for a jetty. The first storey of this bay displays good exposed studding and remains of a sill for a mullioned window. The fireplace surround has an 18th-century eared architrave. The roof features side purlins, mostly concealed.

The rear range, parallel to the front, has been partly reconstructed, but appears to be a rebuilding of a late medieval hall range connected to the rear cross-wing of No. 3 St Mary’s Square. The ground floor ceiling has three bays, with joists set on edge and aligned incorrectly in relation to the jetty. An open fireplace has Tudor brick with chamfered jambs and a timber lintel. The first floor shows widely-spaced studding and an open fireplace with a shallow brick arch.