127-133, BOUGHTON STREET

Three residential properties on Boughton Street, south side, numbered 127-133. Numbers 129, 131 and 133 have an early 17th-century core with 18th-century additions, refronted in the early 19th century and with a late 19th-century shopfront. Number 127 is of early 19th-century date.

The principal north front is of painted brick with a moulded brick eaves cornice. Numbers 129, 131 and 133 are marked with a plaque reading "Kentfield House" on the first floor of No. 129. The attic has dormers: No. 129 has an 18th-century hipped dormer with leaded lights, while No. 131 has a large late 19th-century gabled dormer with a sash window with vertical glazing bars and horns. The first floor has three irregularly-spaced early 19th-century tripartite multipane sash windows. No. 129 has a platband between floors and a mid-20th-century canted bay with a four-panelled door and flat hood on the ground floor. No. 131 has a large late 19th-century shopfront with end pilasters, reeded brackets, fascia and a half-glazed door between two shopfronts with ventilation grilles and stall risers. The ground floor of No. 133 originally had a 12-pane sash, replaced by a small 20th-century shopfront. An attached single-storey brick outbuilding with brick chimneystack stands between Nos. 129 and 131.

The south front is of red brick (No. 131 painted) and includes reused 17th-century bricks in No. 133. Three weatherboarded half-hipped gables project from this elevation. No. 131 has two early 19th-century multipane sash windows and a mid-19th-century sash with vertical glazing bars only. Most other windows are casements.

Number 127 has a similar moulded eaves cornice on its north side. The attic has a hipped dormer with a 19th-century casement. The first floor has a 12-pane sash with horns and the ground floor a cambered opening with a 20th-century sliding casement. A flat moulded wooden hood and 20th-century half-glazed door are to the right.

Inside No. 131, the front room has a wide fireplace with an early 17th-century brick chimneystack, two axial beams and exposed floor joists. A change of level exists between front and back ranges, bridged by an early 19th-century door with marginal glazing. The rear ground floor room has an 18th-century chimneybreast with cambered head and a timber partition wall with brick infill. The first floor front bedroom has 17th-century crossbeams and an early 19th-century fireplace with moulded shelf and two plank cupboard doors flanking the chimney. The front bedroom to No. 133 has a two-panelled cupboard door with L-hinges. The rear bedroom to No. 131 has a moulded cornice, an 18th-century wooden fireplace with eared architrave and late 19th-century glazed tiles, two two-panelled cupboard doors with L-hinges and a two-panelled door. A further bedroom contains an upended chamfered 17th-century ceiling beam. In the bathroom an 18th-century partition wall is visible. A half-winder staircase leads to the attic, though the roof structure has been plastered over. A flying freehold exists between Nos. 129 and 131.

The front range of Nos. 129, 131 and 133 lies under one hipped roof, suggesting it was originally one property. Internal inspection has revealed a 17th-century core, with a rear range added in the 18th century. The building was refronted in the early 19th century. The plaque naming "Kentfield House" appears on No. 129, but these properties may all have borne this name at one time. A shopfront was inserted into No. 131 in 1896, and No. 129 served as a post office. On the 1872 Ordnance Survey map, Nos. 127, 129, 131 and 133 are shown as separate properties. No. 127 appears to have been built adjoining in the early 19th century, approximately when the front range of Nos. 129-133 was refronted.