3-7, West Street

1157/0/10046 WEST STREET 15-MAY-02 3-7

II

3-7 West Street, Harrow-on-the-Hill. Row of three cottages within the frame of a late medieval hall house. C.1475-1525, altered C18, C19, C20. Red brick front and rear walls, tiled roof, timber frame largely of elm. PLAN: three houses inserted within the frame of a formerly five-bay house; Nos. 3 and 5 occupy a single bay each; No.7 occupies two bays; endmost bay to south-west has been demolished. Rear extensions to Nos.3 and 5. EXTERIOR: No.3 (now a tea shop) has pair of ground floor windows with 2/2-pane sashes to right of door; single window to first floor rises through eaves and has a Gothic Revival dormer with barge-board of c.1870. No.5 retains its early- to mid-C19 tripartite shop front to left of door, with large panes of plate glass; single 2/2-pane window to first floor. No.7 has three 6/3-pane sash windows to right of door: soldier courses and renewed brickwork indicates C20 alteration, perhaps replacing an earlier shop front. Earlier brickwork to first floor with two 16-pane windows under curved heads. Large brick chimneystack to No.7. INTERIOR: much altered from medieval origins, but extensive survival of timber frame at upper levels. The frame (largely of elm, with some oak) is divided by a series of cross frames into four bays, which now form party walls of the terraced row. Clasped purlin roof (some replaced with tenoned purlins) with diminished principal rafters. Roof space of No.7 retains evidence of smoke-blackening to former eastern half of an open double-height hall: cross-frame is blackened to west side but clean to east, indicating that the frame was formerly a closed partition. HISTORY: this large, late medieval structure was probably built as a merchant's house and may have been used for associated functions as well as residential: cf. Paycocke's House at Coggeshall, Essex. Given its size and central location, this is likely to have been a house of some substance. Unusually, it ran parallel with the street rather than at right angles. Although extensively altered, this former house constitutes a significant survival of Harrow's medieval development. SOURCE: Richard Bond, 'Nos 3-7 West Street Harrow on the Hill. A note on the architectural interest of the building' (unpublished Historical Analysis and Research Team, English Heritage report 2002).