46, 48 AND 51, MARKET SQUARE

BICESTER MARKET SQUARE SP5822S 3/64 Nos.46, 48 and 51 31/01/52 GV II

Shown as Nos.46, 47 and 51 on Ordnance Survey map. Substantial town house, now shop. Early/mid C17 (possibly partly earlier) and late C17. Part-rendered timber framing; old plain-tile roofs with brick stacks. Double-depth plan, extended to front and rear. 2 storeys plus attics and 3 storeys. Double-gabled 3-storey east front, in exposed light framing, is late C17 and has 3 renewed cross windows to both upper floors, all with C20 lattice glazing; a simple wooden pallisade running between the gables rises above a moulded wooden cornice. A deep contemporary jetty, at first floor only, spans the alleyway to right and rests on long braces. To left, the one-bay return to the earlier range also has renewed cross windows plus a similar C20 shop front. Double-gabled central section of south front rises above a late-C19/early-C20 shop front and a very wide 5-light early-C18 window with thick glazing bars; the upper fenestration is irregular and includes a large window which is probably late C18/early C19; the westernmost gable has a scalloped bargeboard. The west front is extended by a 2-storey flat-roofed addition which projects below the 2 original gables; it is of c.1700 and has a heavy moulded wooden cornice and old horizontal-sliding sashes at first floor; ground floor has a C18 canted bay window on shaped brackets, 2 more old windows and a panelled door. The alleyway to north is also bridged at first floor at the western end by a link containing a wooden 3-light mullioned-and-transomed window with old leaded glazing, now partly penetrating into No.52 (q.v.). The gabled jettied bay facing north between the 2 links retains mid-C17 oriel windows to first and second floors, the lower being larger with decorated angle mullions and formerly with transoms, the upper with moulded mullions. At ground floor, one bracketed post is still exposed, and there are 2 panelled doors plus a window built out below the jetty; the gable retains part of a scalloped bargeboard. Interior: stop-chamfered beams, including dragon beams, in the earlier section; internal bracketed posts; 2-panel doors; dog-leg stair of c.l700 with winders, moulded closed string and handrail, and a few barleytwist-on-vase balusters. In the cellar, built into a wall, is a medieval octagonal wooden post with broach stops top and bottom. The building occupies a prominent island site.

(V.C.H.: Oxfordshire, Vol.VI, p.18; Buildings of England: Oxfordshire, p.455).

Listing NGR: SP5855622377