68,70, The Street

This is a 17th-century building with a mid-19th century extension, situated on The Street in Old Basing. Originally a timber-framed building, it was reconstituted in the mid-19th century as a pair of Gothic cottages. The building is one-and-a-half storeys with four windows. It has a prominent old tile roof with a wide overhang, hipped at the south end, and gables at the rear (east) enclosing a central section with a low eaves line. There are four dormers to the front (west) and one on the south face, each with steep, projecting roofs, decorative bargeboards, and scalloped tile-hanging above two-light casement windows. The front wall features exposed brick-nogged timber framing, with English bond brickwork on the south side. It has a plinth and a cambered opening on the south end. The rear gable on the south side has an eaves level band of tiles on brick dentils. The windows have diagonal cast metal panes. A large porch to No. 68 has a gable with ornamented pierced bargeboard, a timber frame on a low brick wall, side rails, a red tile roof with scalloped bands, exposed interior framing, and a boarded door within a solid frame with ornamental furniture. The porch to No. 70 has a lower pitch and higher brick side walls. A massive chimney breast is positioned on the north gable, planted on exposed frames; a similar stack was originally on the south end but is now incorporated into the extension. Internally, there are heavy beams and wide brick fireplace openings. No. 70 has a modern rear wing. Although the front facade appears nearly symmetrical, the internal arrangement has the front elevation of No. 70 overlapping that of No. 68.