King Post

This is a house, originally a house and shop, dating to the 15th century, with alterations from the late 16th or early 17th century and a 18th-century facade. The building is timber framed with a red and grey brick front elevation in Flemish bond. The right gable end is tile-hung. The long left side is partially brick in a Sussex-type bond, partially tile-hung, and partially exposed framing with plaster infilling. The roof is covered in plain tiles.

The house is built in a Wealden style, at a right angle to the street, facing west. It originally comprised an open-hall of two timber-framed bays, with a storeyed bay to the rear (north) end. The south end bay was rebuilt in the 17th century. The south bay was extended west across an alley in the 18th century and subsequently re-faced and re-roofed with higher eaves. The present front (south) elevation, facing the street, is two storeys high with a cellar, and features a dentilled brick eaves cornice. The roof is gabled to the east and west. The fenestration is irregular and includes three recessed twelve-pane sashes. Similar sashes with segmental heads are on the ground floor. A panelled door with a segmental head is located at the east end of the ground floor. An alley passes under the first floor to the west end, with a door leading to the street.

The west elevation displays an under-built jetty to the storeyed north end bay, with a solid-spandrel bracket to the south end. The north hall bay has a knapped flint plinth, with a long hall window sill just above ground level. The first floor of this bay is jettied, dating from the late 16th or early 17th century, including a flying wall-plate with a central first-floor stud and plaster infilling. The south hall bay projects from the flying wall-plate and has a brick ground floor and a tile-hung first floor. The plain tile roof is hipped to the north, with a similar ridge but lower eaves than the rebuilt south end bay. A multiple brick stack is located at the south end of the south hall bay. A four-light ogee and ovolo-moulded mullion window is on the first floor of the north hall bay, and a three-light casement is on the south hall bay.

The interior features exposed timber framing. A moulded and brattished north end-of-hall beam sits above a feather-lapped plank partition, with vestiges of a spear towards the east end. A partition with a central tension-braced stud is on the first floor. A moulded south end-of-hall beam was originally moved under the central truss. The central truss has moulded posts and a cambered tie-beam with hollow-chamfered arch braces. There is a moulded octagonal crown post with broach stops to the base and bar-stops to the top, and a plain crown post with ogee foot braces to the north end of the hall. A chamfered axial beam with leaf chamfer-stops and chamfered joists are visible in the inserted floor of the north hall bay. A very short chamfered axial beam is situated between the central truss and the stack. A brick fireplace with a large bressumer is in the south hall bay. A four-centred-arched brick fireplace is in the first-floor south end room, where a 17th-century wall-plate is visible. A 17th-century-style splat-baluster staircase features a newel with an onion finial. There are remains of an 18th-century cornice in the south ground floor room. A medieval stone corbel is present in the cellar.