Speakers House

Speakers House, located at No 44 Hart Street, is a timber-framed house that dates from the 15th or 16th century and has undergone later alterations. The facade features some sham painted timber, with plaster infill that is partly roughcast. The building has old tiled roofs and consists of a western part that is one and a half storeys high, which includes a leaded casement window in the gable end facing the street. The ground floor is underbuilt and features a large six-light window with mullions and transoms beneath a moulded bressumer, along with an additional small ground floor window and a fanlight above a former door. The eastern part of the house is two storeys tall, with the first floor jettied out and a canted bay that has mullions, a transom, and leaded glazing below the gable. The ground floor here has a large eight-light window with mullions and transoms, and a six-panelled door that is fielded with a fanlight above, also featuring leaded glazing. Notably, William Lenthall, the Speaker of the Long Parliament from 1640 to 1653, was born here in 1591. The house is part of a group that includes Nos 2 to 8 (even), Nos 14 to 36 (even), Adam House, and Nos 40 and 44, along with gates and piers at Nos 48 and 50, The Old School House, and the Rectory Garden Wall, forming a cohesive historical context with Nos 5 to 39 (odd), the Drinking Fountain, the Parish Church of St Mary, and the raised pavement at the east end of Hart Street.