38, 40 AND 42, HIGH STREET

Nos. 38, 40, and 42 High Street are a row of houses and shops that originated in the 16th century or earlier, with later cladding and extensions from the late 18th century and mid-19th century. The buildings have a timber-framed core, covered with red brick mathematical tiling and some rendered areas, topped with plain tiled roofs. Although they were built at different times, all three properties share part of the central timber-framed block.

The buildings are two storeys high, with an attic in No. 38. The roof is hipped and steps up to the center, featuring stacks at the right end, center, and rear left. The roof also extends to the left towards Upper Bridge Street and steps down. No. 38 has a hipped dormer and a regular arrangement of windows, including two canted two-storey bays with sash windows, one of which has plate glass on the ground floor. The ground floor features flanking recessed panels, a central door with four panels and a rectangular fanlight, integral footscrapers, and a large cornice on scrolled brackets, along with a hollow chamfered name panel above.

At the right end of No. 38, there is a boarded passage door in a semi-circular headed surround with a cornice. Nos. 40 and 42 have a plinth and a moulded wooden eaves cornice. On the first floor, there are two wooden casements, while the ground floor has a canted bay to the right and a 20th-century plate glass shop front with a glazed door to the left. The central door of No. 40 and 42 has six raised and fielded panels, with the top two being glazed, and is topped with a flat hood on brackets.

The left return facing Upper Bridge Street is clad in mathematical tiles and features three glazing bar sashes, with a tripartite glazing bar sash on the first floor to the center left and another tripartite glazing bar sash below it on the ground floor. There is also a panelled door in a recessed panelled surround with a pediment on pilasters.