3 and 5 London Road

House, probably originally including commercial premises, constructed in the C16 or possibly earlier, now two dwellings.

MATERIALS: the timber-framed construction is exposed, painted black, with rendered infill panels, under a pitched roof covered with modern plain tiles. The rear extensions are rendered, with felted roofs.

PLAN: the original two-storey building as it survives has a rectangular footprint. The building overall now has a U-shaped plan, with the principal elevation facing south towards London Road, and two C20 ranges extending northward from either end of the historic range.

EXTERIOR: the building has a jettied first floor to the principal elevation, corbelled out at the western end, and supported elsewhere on later timber brackets. On the ground floor are two doorways, irregularly spaced, with later-C20 doors. There are horizontal multi-pane shop windows, also belonging to the later C20, though possibly in original openings, with a row of studs beneath each window. The jettied first floor is symmetrically framed, with arched braces to the outer bays, and alternating wider and narrower posts between, meeting in a narrow central bay. Later-C20 horizontal windows are set beneath the eaves, containing sash frames – two pairs to the outer bays and two single windows. The partially exposed west elevation has large framing with rendered infill panels. The two extensions to the building’s north elevation each contain a single bay of fenestration on their garden-facing façades.