Ashurst Post Office

Ashurst Post Office is a house that was formerly part of the post office, dating from the late 17th century to early 18th century, with some 19th century and circa 1982 extensions. It is timber-framed and clad with weatherboards, featuring brick stacks and chimney shafts, and has a peg-tile roof.

The building has a small two-room plan oriented roughly southeast to northwest. The larger room on the southwest side has a gable-end stack, which is now at the back of the house. The former service end front room faces the road with a gable-end. To the right, there is a one-room plan 19th century extension that includes a projecting gable-end stack and a lean-to outshot across the front, which served as the post office and general stores until around 1982. A one-room extension added in circa 1982 projects to the right rear, with contemporary service rooms behind.

The house is two storeys tall. The lean-to, which was the former shop, has two 20th century fixed-pane windows with glazing bars and a 20th century door at the left end. The first floor of the main block features an old, likely 19th century casement window to the left with small panes of rectangular glass, positioned under the gable-end of the original house. The 19th century extension to the right contains an original 16-pane sash window, and its roof is gable-ended.

Inside, the older part of the house has plain square-panel framing made of relatively slender scantling. A partition has been removed at ground floor level between the two original rooms. The main room features a plain chamfered crossbeam, and the fireplace is partly blocked, with plastering and a plain oak lintel. The roof is inaccessible, but a description from 1982 notes it has heavy coupled rafters with a few high collars and low-level purlins.