31, High Street

Wealden house, late 15th century, comprising two bays of what would originally have been a three-bay hall house with a central open hall flanked by two-storey jettied wings. The hall floor was inserted in the late 16th century, with upper chamber floors inserted in the late 16th to early 17th century. The southern bay was later divided from the main house to form No. 32 (subsequently rebuilt). A cross wing in red, brown and buff brick with plain tile gambrel roofs was added in the 17th or early 18th century, shared with No. 32. A narrow parallel rear bay, possibly 18th century, stands to the rear.

The building has timber-framed upper floors, weatherboarded, above a rebuilt and rendered ground floor. Plain tile roofs cover a largely replaced roof structure. The cross wing is brick with gambrel roofs, whilst the rear bay is weatherboarded over a rendered ground floor. Internally, comb-decorated daub survives on oak laths.

The plan shows two storeys with attics. The first floor is jettied, with eaves raised to accommodate the upper floor evident in the dual-raked roof. The ground floor sits substantially below street level, forming a single space which is curtailed to the south for the entrance and passage to No. 32. At upper floor level the house occupies both bays, divided by an arch-braced partition on both floors. The late 16th-century inserted hall floor and late 16th or early 17th-century upper chamber ceilings have spine beams resting on tie beams. Stairs were inserted at the rear in the 20th century and against the north gable wall. No evidence of original chimney stacks survives in the original bays. The entrance passage to No. 32 was probably inserted in the 17th or 18th century when the house was subdivided. The rear bay structure is not internally visible.

Externally, the ground floor is set back under a continuous jettied first floor but breaks forward at upper floor level to enclose the southern entrance. A 19th-century four-panel flush door with narrow overlight sits on the south. A large later 20th-century timber casement bay window, an off-centre 20th-century panelled door and smaller casement appear to the north. First floor windows are a pair of later 20th-century two-light timber casements, with timber casements in flat-roofed dormers at attic level. Upper floor windows in the rear and cross wing are 20th-century timber casements with diamond lattice lights. A 20th-century ground floor door and timber casements feature on the rear bay, which has a late 18th or early 19th-century brick ridge stack.

The timber frame of standard construction is exposed on upper floors. Ground floor main beams are replaced, though some plain joists are reused. At upper floor level the south wall and central truss are foot-braced asymmetrically from outer posts and from a central stud beneath the crown post. Similar bracing was exposed on the north wall ground floor during refurbishment, when a plain jetty bracket was also revealed at the north end of the front wall. Bracing to the central truss stud has been removed and the tie beam damaged and repaired to allow door openings and possibly former internal windows. The central tie beam has a slight chamfer on its upper side but shows no other ornament.

The first floor spine beam to the southern bay is deep with chamfered stops; joists are plain throughout. Three square-profile crown posts remain in situ, although only two are visible, foot-braced to cambered tie beams. The longitudinal braces and collar purlin are removed to augment headroom in upper chambers. The central post has a replaced or repaired head. The southern gable wall of the uppermost chamber over the hall retains straight and wavy comb-decorated daub infilling on oak laths, now painted. An inserted doorway formerly giving access to the southern bay is now blocked. The roof is largely replaced, but a pair of smoke-blackened rafters survive over the central truss and the apex of the south gable wall retains smoke-blackened daub cladding on oak laths. A rear purlin, evidence of later roof alterations, may retain a rebate for a formerly inserted window. Cross wing rafters survive beneath a 20th-century roof.

The building was surveyed during refurbishment in 1967 and included in the Rape of Hastings Architectural Survey of 1975. It was identified as a late medieval Wealden hall house originally comprising a hall flanked by two-storey jettied bays to north and south, each with an upper chamber. The southern bay likely contained service facilities. The upper section of the open hall occupied a single bay. From the 17th century, as was common in Hastings, the house was divided. The southern bay of the original house was demolished and rebuilt during the late 18th or early 19th century as No. 32 High Street. Passages such as the current entrance to No. 32 were cut through to access rear buildings. During the 18th century a parallel range was added to the rear of No. 31, butting against the 17th-century rear wing of No. 30. A late 17th or 18th-century cross wing at the rear of the southern bay is now divided between Nos. 31 and 32.

In 1967 the building was restored, stripped to the frame which was then repaired and partly replaced, particularly the roof. Photographs by JM Baines from 1967 record the frame. The building was subsequently described in the Rape of Hastings Architectural Survey of 1975 using information recorded during this restoration. The building lies within the rich context of historic structures in the High Street, which forms the core of medieval and early post-medieval Hastings.

The 20th-century studio to the rear and garage fronting Roebuck Street are not included in the listing.