17, 19, 21 and 21a, The Terrace

This is a group of two houses and two flats, originally one or two houses, dating to the mid-16th century, with extensions and alterations from the 17th and 18th centuries, and further alterations and extensions in the mid-20th century. The building is timber framed, with some areas encased in brick and brick sections, and has old tile gabled roofs. The original layout was irregular, featuring five framed bays on the front range, two framed bays in an extension behind number 21, and 18th and 20th-century gabled extensions to the rear of numbers 17 and 19. The front was formerly jettied. The building is two storeys high in part, with an attic and a cellar beneath number 21. A ridge chimney stands to the right of centre, with another at the rear of the west end.

The front of the building has five bays. It contains sash windows with glazing bars. Number 21 has an early-19th-century shop window with six panes, and a 20th-century diagonal planked door, both sheltered by a flat, moulded hood supported on cut brackets. A double flight of three steps with iron handrails leads up to the landing in front of the door. Number 19 has a six-panelled door with fluted pilasters, set beneath a flat hood with a moulded cornice on cut brackets. Number 17 features a 20th-century gabled end and extension, with 20th-century sash windows with glazing bars, and a six-panelled door under a flat hood flanked by two square bays.

The interior retains a significant amount of exposed timber framing throughout. The principal beams on the ground floor are chamfered with run-out stops, some with bars. Other features include heavy plain joists, jowled posts, curved knee and wind braces and a redundant crown post roof with clasped purlins. Numbers 19 and 21 have inglenook fireplaces; number 19’s has been altered, while number 21 retains a bread oven. Evidence suggests a former internal gallery once existed in number 19.