Bournes Shop And House Adjoining At The West

A shop and adjoining house, likely dating back to the 17th century, was altered in the 19th century. The building forms a range with the Rose and Crown public house. It is constructed using a timber frame, with a painted white front elevation, brick on the ground floor, and tile-hanging on the first floor, topped by a peg-tile roof and brick stacks.

The house originally faced north onto the High Street. It now comprises a shop at the east end and a house to the west. The house’s entrance opens into a cross passage, leading to a room to the right (west) with a stack shared with the Rose and Crown. Various rear additions have been made over time. The original core was a single-depth framed building, with a narrow bay at the left end potentially indicating a smoke bay. Changes in floor level and a substantial framed crosswall near the cross passage suggest it may mark the end of the original house. The crosswalls have been altered in the 19th century; one in the shop has been removed and the east wall of the passage is a 19th-century addition.

The building is two storeys and has an attic. The roof gables at the left end, where a stack is located. The front has an asymmetrical arrangement of four windows. Around the middle of the 19th century, a shop front was added to the left, featuring projecting bays with 8-pane fixed windows and a fascia board with a moulded cornice. The shop has a half-glazed 19th-century door with an overlight. The 19th-century front door to the house, centrally located, has fielded panels and a flat porch hood on brackets. An early 19th-century canted bay window with a flat roof and a 16-pane sash window in the centre is situated on the ground floor right, with 8-pane returns. The first-floor windows are well-preserved 18th-century 2- and 3-light iron-framed casements with square leaded panes, retaining their attractive window furniture, including handmade internal scrolled catches and one external quadrant catch. The attic has two dormers with hipped roofs, glazed with 2-light casements with square leaded panes.

Inside, the floor levels are uneven towards the rear where the ground drops away to the south. Ground-floor carpentry is partly concealed but includes chamfered crossbeams. The shop ceiling is supported by a 19th-century column where an earlier crosswall was removed. The wall framing of the main range preserves jowled wallposts. Other interior features are predominantly 19th-century, including doors and an iron grate on the first floor. A late 19th- or early 20th-century stick baluster staircase is also present.

The roof has a clasped purlin construction, probably dating from the 18th century or later. Sooted rafters may survive in the original smoke bay at the left end, although access to the roof apex was unavailable during a survey in 1989.

The building occupies a prominent position on Brenchley High Street and has an attractive exterior with a good 19th-century shop front.