51 Tickford Street

51 Tickford Street

A house, converted to a public house in the 19th century, probably of late-medieval date, with a 16th or 17th-century inserted floor and smoke bays, and 18th, 19th and 20th-century additions and alterations.

The building is timber-framed with wattle and daub infill and a brick and rubble-stone skin, apparently added in the 18th or 19th century. The roof is covered with corrugated metal, beneath which remnants of the original thatch survive.

The plan is single-storey with attic. The eastern end is wider than the western end. The current layout reflects the building's use as a public house in the 19th century, with two bar rooms at ground floor level and three rooms at first floor or attic level. The original plan, still traceable from opposed doors, appears to have had a cross passage west of centre, marking a service end, but this western end was later opened out to create one large bar room. The eastern ground floor has an L-shaped passage running along the east and north sides, entered from doors at the east end, which borders a snug bar with fixed settles. The wide corridor on the north side forms an entrance hall and gives access to the enclosed staircase.

The road front has colourwashed brick walling and three 19th-century windows of three and four casement lights at ground floor level. The steeply pitched roof has two gabled dormer windows, each of two casement lights. The ridge chimney stack is of 19th-century bricks and marks the division between the eastern roof, which has a higher ridge than that above the western side. A blocked doorway is to the left of centre, and a blocked window is to the right.

The western end abuts 49 Tickford Street. The eastern gable end has painted brickwork to the ground floor with a half-glazed 20th-century door with cambered head to the right. The first floor appears to have wattle and daub infill with a single, two-light 19th-century casement to the right of centre. A central king post is flanked by queen posts connecting with the collar beam, and there are 19th-century bargeboards. A single-storey flat-roofed extension adjoins to the right, and recessed behind this is the eastern flank of a gabled wing projecting to the north with a window of six panes and exposed sash boxes.

The north side, or rear, has the 20th-century flat-roofed extension at the left and to its right the 19th-century gabled extension with a single sash window with cambered head to the ground floor at the left and blank walling to the first floor with a chimney at the gable apex. Further right is a single 19th-century bay, appearing to be a later addition with a shallow-pitched slate roof. A range of 19th-century former stables abuts and extends to the north.

The building is entered through the door in the eastern gable end, which leads to the L-shaped corridor with square clay tiles to the floor. Ground floor walls are panelled with vertical boarding, and panelled 19th-century doors lead to the eastern snug bar, the enclosed staircase on the north side, and the eastern bar. There is a long internal window to the snug bar in the upper southern wall of the passage with a horizontal sliding light.

The eastern snug bar has a tiled floor as in the passageway, with fitted benches with panelled backs and moulded bench ends to its northern and angled north-eastern walls. The northern bench back has a small hatch with shelf opening onto the passageway for serving beer. The lower walls are panelled with vertical boards. The western wall has a fireplace with a 19th or 20th-century surround set within the smoke bay, creating the appearance of an ingle nook. The smoke bay hood is panelled with vertical boards.

The western ground-floor room has been opened out to create one larger space. A series of posts stand proud of the northern wall and support cross-axial beams that in turn support the first floor. A heavy axial beam connects with the smoke bay, of which the framing is set at an angle, giving it the appearance of a smoke hood. As in the snug bar, a later fire surround and brick chimney has been inserted into the space of the smoke bay. Lower walls around the room are panelled with vertical boards.

At first-floor level there are three interconnected rooms. The ceiling has been panelled and boarded. A single purlin projects on either side. Dilapidation has opened holes in the boarded ceilings, and parts of the thatch and common rafters can be seen, as well as the timber-framed structure of the smoke bays. Evidence of possible soot blackening is visible, which may have been caused by an open hall arrangement before a floor was inserted, or result from a leaking chimney or smoke bay.