49 And 51, High Street

The building at 49 and 51 High Street is a late 14th or early 15th century hall house, originally a single dwelling that was later subdivided. Number 51 represents the hall portion, while Number 49 forms the cross wing. It displays alterations made in the early 16th century when the original cross passage was converted into a smoke bay, and a chimneystack with a bressumer dated 1600 was inserted. Further changes and renovations occurred in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, including replacement windows.

The building's construction is timber-framed, with painted brick infilling on the ground floor and plaster infilling above. The roof is tiled, with a gablet on the left-hand side cross wing and a central brick chimneystack with decorative channelled detailing. The front elevation features exposed timber framing, with the first floor overhanging to the left and supported on corner brackets; an oversailing soffit reveals exposed joists. The windows are irregular in placement and consist of square-paned leaded casements within 19th-century wooden frames. A dormer with a triple window and penticed tiled roof is present on the right side. Two plain boarded doors are set within wide, exposed frames, the door on the right being protected by a bracketed hood. The rear elevation includes a brick-built ground floor to the cross wing and an outshut with a catslide roof attached to the former hall.

Internally, the cross wing retains its original roof structure featuring a square crownpost with two up braces and two down braces, a tie beam, a collar beam, and numerous original rafters. There is also a 18th-century lath and plaster partition. The first-floor rooms feature chamfered beams with lambs tongue stops and original floorboards. The ground floor shows an early arched brace and bressumer for an inserted fireplace with the date 1600. A brick open fireplace likely survives behind this. A rear ground floor room contains 18th-century ceiling beams. Number 51 retains the smoke bay, recognizable by its smoke-blackened rafters and curved braces created from the original cross passage. Other features include an early 19th-century staircase with stick balusters, a first-floor firegrate, a 16th-century brick open fireplace, an axial beam, floor joists with lambs tongue stops, paved brick floors and late 18th and early 19th century plank doors. The outshut dates back to at least the 18th century.