Royal Standard House

The Royal Standard House is a house, formerly a public house, dating from the early 16th century. It was remodelled in the 17th century and extended in the late 19th century. The building is a plastered timber frame with pargetting on the front, a brick-faced end wall, and a brick extension at the rear. It has a clay tile roof and an axial stack, truncated below the roof.

The original plan comprised a 3-bay medieval house with a central open hall and storeyed end bays. Around the middle of the 17th century, a floor and axial stack were inserted into the hall, and at this time the gable and pargetting were added to the front. A rear outshut and a late 19th-century wing were also added.

The north front has two storeys and three windows. The first floor is jettied, with a large overhanging gable to the left. Above the jetty, the front is pargetted with strapwork and foliage decoration in low relief. The gable bears the names "The Royal Standard" and "William Wooburn Ales," likely a 19th-century addition; the coved gable eaves are raised at the centre and the gable apex oversails. There are smaller, pargetted gables to the right, and 20th-century casement windows. 20th-century shop fronts occupy the left and right sides. The rear roof extends over an outshut on the left and a late 19th-century brick parallel range on the right.

Inside, on the ground floor, the partition between the hall and the left room has been removed. The hall partition has large, unchamfered, closely-spaced joists. The inserted hall ceiling has a roughly chamfered axial beam and thin joists. The inserted axial stack incorporates a brick fireplace with a chamfered timber lintel. The right-hand room has a partly raised ceiling and a beam supported on a post made from a reused fireplace bressumer. A high window with diamond-section mullions is found in the back wall of the hall. The original medieval roof, with two closed tie-beam trusses, cambered collars, clasped purlins with curved wind-braces, and common-rafter couples, remains intact. The hall bay is heavily smoke-blackened, while the end bays are clean.