40 and 42, High Street

This property comprises two shops with living accommodation above, located at numbers 40 and 42 High Street, Newport Pagnell. The building largely dates to the 17th century, although it may incorporate some earlier fabric. It was significantly remodelled in the early 19th century and altered in the 20th century. The construction is a mix of timber framing, with some sections rebuilt in Flemish-bond red brick and others rendered. The roofs are slate, with gabled ends and deep eaves, and number 42 features a bracketed soffit. Brick axial and gable-end stacks are also present.

Number 40, on the right-hand side, is a narrow, deep range from the 17th century, with the possibility of earlier framing in the rear wing. Number 42, on the left, sits on a wider plot and was largely rebuilt around 1835. The building presents a three-storey, 3:1 window arrangement. Number 40 has a rendered front, with a large canted bay window on the first floor featuring a sixteen-pane sash window and four-pane side-lights, as well as a sixteen-pane sash window on the second floor. Number 42 has three windows on the first and second floors, each with a flat brick arch and later four-pane sashes. The shop fronts are from the late 19th century, with a more modern fascia applied above.

At the rear, number 42 has a tall, narrow early 19th-century extension. The rear wing of number 40 is timber-framed with brick infill, partly rebuilt in brick, and incorporating some stone rubble at the base. This wing features 19th-century casement and sash windows, together with a 17th-century hipped dormer with a two-light casement containing leaded panes.

Inside number 40, the front room on the first floor features a plaster ceiling cornice with cyma reversa and recta mouldings, and a two-panel door. The chamber above displays exposed timber framing in the partition, a two-panel door, and a cast-iron grate. The rear wing features chamfered axial beams and two half-glazed doors. On the first floor, there are further chamfered axial beams with hollow step stops, and a two-panel door. The attic chambers expose purlins, and a truss is visible in the lower rear range of the wing; the tie-beam appears to be sooted on the north side. Number 42 has cast-iron columns supporting the shop front, a 19th-century staircase with elliptical arches on the landings, two-panel doors, and a panelled and glazed door with crown glass.