The Chequers

The Chequers is a building that may have served as a market hall, inn, and stables, dating from the mid-18th century, and is now a café and garage. It has origins from the late 16th century and has undergone alterations in the 19th and late 20th centuries. The core of the building is timber-framed, with the ground floor constructed of brick in Flemish bond and the first floor, which was formerly tile-hung, now weatherboarded. The roof is covered in plain tiles.

The structure consists of two buildings that are likely framed separately. The left section is L-shaped, with a rear wing that may have been added in the late 18th or early 19th century. The right section is positioned at right angles to the left and runs parallel to the wing. Both sections are two storeys high; the left range features a hipped roof that extends along the right side of the rear wing, while the right range has hipped roofs at both the front and rear. A shouldered red brick stack is located towards the centre of the front elevation of the left range, and a large red brick stack has been removed from the right end of the left section.

The fenestration is irregular, featuring four glazing bar sashes, some of which date from the late 20th century. There is a boarded door leading to the garage, with a narrow two-light fanlight above it, located to the left of the left range. A half-glazed door with a flat hood is at the right end of the left range, and there is a boarded door with a flat hood on the right side elevation of the right range.

Inside, the building has jowled wall-posts and first-floor tension braces. The ground-floor joists run in four directions, and there are some 19th-century boarded ceilings. A large well, possibly the Town Well, is located on the ground floor but is currently blocked.