Corneys

Corneys is an early 18th-century house and shop, with earlier features incorporated into the rear block. Part of the building was converted into a shop in the late 19th or early 20th century. The front of the building is painted brick, with timber framing above clad in peg tiles; there are brick stacks and chimneyshafts, and a peg-tile roof.

The building has an L-shaped plan. The main block, which faces south-west onto The Square, has a double-depth plan with front and back rooms either side of a central entrance hall and staircase. The rooms on the right-hand side have been converted into a shop, which features a projecting canted bay window with a central recessed doorway, plate glass windows, and a moulded entablature. A stack projects from the left end wall, and a rear kitchen block extends to the rear of the right end; it has an outer lateral stack. The kitchen fireplace is likely from the 16th century, being the earliest feature visible. The house is two stories high with attics in the roof space.

The symmetry of the three-window front is disrupted by the late 19th/early 20th century shop front which projects forward on the right. The ground floor on the left-hand side has a 19th-century tripartite sash window with a central nine-pane sash and flanking pilasters. The first-floor windows and hipped dormers contain 19th and 20th-century replacement casements with glazing bars. In the centre, stone steps lead up to the main front doorway, which has a probably 19th-century part-glazed panelled door. Above the door is an early 18th-century hood, its moulded edges continuing from a moulded timber frieze at first-floor level, a similar hood and part of the frieze appearing in the rear wall. The timber eaves cornice includes a modillion frieze, and the roof is hipped at both ends.

The original framed structure is well preserved inside. Exposed beams are plain and chamfered. Most of the fireplaces are blocked, but the 16th-century fireplace is exposed in the rear wing, with an oak lintel moulded with a broad hollow chamfer containing a roll. The interior includes good early 18th-century joinery, including an open-well staircase with square newel posts with ball finials, a closed string, and turned balusters with blocks. A pine round-headed arch, featuring fluted pilasters and a moulded entablature with a dentil frieze, is located between the two ground floor rooms of the house; it is early 18th century but may not be in its original location. There are some early 18th-century two-panel doors off the stair landings. The original roof includes tie-beam trusses with staggered butt purlins.

Corneys is a handsome town house that reflects a merchant’s status.