16 High Street, Hailsham

Shop with offices above, largely C19, with a C17 wall painting.

MATERIALS: the building is rendered, though is likely to be constructed from brick, and has a tiled roof and brick chimneystacks.

PLAN: it occupies a rectangular plot in the terrace of buildings running north-west to south-east on the east side of the High Street.

EXTERIOR: the building is two storeys and two bays. The principal elevation faces south-west, onto the High Street. A modern shop front, in a historic style, occupies the ground floor. On the first floor there are two tripartite sash windows with segmental arched heads and stone sills. To the rear, there are three window openings halfway up the elevation.

INTERIOR: the building is two rooms wide, with the stairs and service rooms to the rear. The ground floor has been opened-up, though has some modern partitioning; it does not contribute to the special interest or the building.

On the first floor, there is a historic timber partition between the two principal rooms. The partition was originally four bays wide and two bays high; a bay-and a half appear to have been truncated on the east side to create a doorway between the two rooms, now blocked. The timber frame is infilled with panels of lime plaster and on the southern face is a historic wall painting. In the left panel, above the mid-rail, in embellished script, is the text ‘THE PEACE OF GOD, / A QUIET LYFE, A CONTENT / MYNDE AN HONEST WYFE / A GOOD REPORT, A FRIEND IN / STORE WHAT NEEDE A MAN WISH’; the poem may have continued in the right-most panel, now lost. The central two panels depict a lion and unicorn with foliate and floral embellishments. Below the mid-rail the painting survives poorly, though traces of colour and floral motifs are legible. The partition has been encased below the mid-rail, and has a protective screen covering the upper section. There is brick above. The special interest of the building is concentrated in the partition and wall painting.