No 4, Peter Jones Opticians, And Premises To Rear

This is a house, originally with a shop and offices, dating from the late 16th or early 17th century. It has a later 18th-century wing, a mid-19th century facade, and subsequent alterations. The front of the building is two storeys, with an attic and cellars, and is constructed of red brick in a Flemish bond pattern on the ground floor, with tile hanging above. The roof is covered in plain tiles. It has three timber-framed bays. It was formerly jettied, at least to the rear on the left-hand side. The roof has a red and grey brick ridge stack towards the left end, a slender gable-end stack to the right, and a rear stack to the right. Two gabled dormers contain 2-light casement windows. The windows are a mix of sashes; two 4-pane sashes are towards the left end, and one 16-pane sash is towards the right end. A cambered head is above the right-hand ground-floor window. A half-glazed door, with a cambered head, leads up one step to Peter Jones Opticians, and another half-glazed door, up two steps, provides access to No. 4. A two-storey, single-bay, 18th-century wing is located to the rear on the left, with a red and grey brick ground floor, tile hanging above, a hipped tile roof, a projecting gable-end stack, a rear gable-end sash window with 16 panes, and a side entrance door. A shorter 2-storey rear wing is located towards the centre, with a 2-storey lean-to extension of matching materials to its long right side. The lean-to has a red and grey brick ground floor in an English bond pattern, weatherboarded first floor and a half-hipped plain tile roof. The interior was only partly inspected but shows exposed timber framing on the first floor, including gunstock-jowled posts, arch braces and a shutter groove. A former rear jetty is also exposed.