2 And 4, Reading Road

Nos 2 and 4 on Reading Road is a house that has been converted into shop and garage premises. It dates back to the 15th century and was remodeled in the early 19th century, with later additions and alterations. The building is timber-framed, clad in red brick, and has a roughcast front with a plain tile roof. It was likely originally designed as an open-hall house and has two storeys.

The front of the building is irregular, featuring four first-floor windows. An early 19th-century stair wing has been added to the rear left, while a 20th-century garage has been constructed at the rear center and left, which is not of special interest. A continuous 20th-century shop front includes glazed double doors on the right and a half-glazed door on the left. The first-floor windows have 19th-century casements, with the first and third from the left having two lights, the fourth having three lights, and the second being blind. Mid-19th-century hoodmoulds are present above the windows.

At the rear, the timber frame is visible with rectangular panels. There is an old six-panel door in the center, some of which are now glazed, and a near-central external stack. Inside, the timber frame appears largely intact. The left-hand bay features two closely spaced large tie-beams on jowelled wall posts, which may indicate the position of a former smoke bay. The right-hand bay has curved wind braces leading up to the purlins, although the upper roof structure is not visible. In the stair wing, there is a dog-leg stair with square section balusters, columnar newels, and a wooden handrail. At the top of the stairs, there is a two-light arched window. A drawing of the house by Buckler from 1827 can be found in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. The building was unoccupied as of October 1989.