18-22, HIGH STREET

A row of houses at 18-22 High Street, Lenham, was likely built in the late 16th or early 17th century. The front was altered in the 18th century and at least partly rebuilt in the late 20th century; number 22 was almost entirely reassembled during the late 20th century. The building is timber-framed, with a facade of chequered red and grey brick and a plain tile roof. The right gable is rendered and stands on a stone plinth. The building is two storeys high, with attics and a cellar. The facade is divided into two sections by a straight joint. Numbers 20 and 22 have a short brick plinth, a brick eaves band, and a moulded wooden eaves cornice. Number 18 has a shallow plinth and a moulded wooden eaves cornice. The roof is half-hipped to the right. There are two brick stacks: one to the left end and another between numbers 18 and 20. Three dormers are present, each with trefoiled bargeboards. The window arrangement is irregular, with a three-light casement to the left end of number 22, one towards the centre of number 20, and a recessed glazing-bar sash towards the right end of number 18. Half-glazed doors with flat, bracketed hoods lead up three steps between the first-floor casements of numbers 20 and 22. A half-glazed door to number 18 has a reeded surround with paterae to the corners and a shallow flat hood with paired modillions, leading up four steps. A cellar access is located in the brickwork of the canted ground-floor bay window of number 18. The interior of number 22 may retain a side-purlin roof and re-used late 16th/early 17th century timbers. The interiors of numbers 20 and 18 have not been inspected.