26 Market Place

26 Market Place is a commercial premises with accommodation above, probably dating from the 16th century but substantially altered and extended in later periods. The street elevation was refaced in the early 20th century, and major renovations were undertaken around 1989.

The building is a timber-framed structure with infill of various materials. The three-storey street front is rendered with applied half timbering to the upper floors and a late 20th-century brick and plate glass shopfront. The two-storey gabled rear elevations are clad in stained weatherboarding. The roof is of plain clay tiles. A cellar of clunch, flint and brick extends beneath the front bays.

The street elevation, dating from the early 20th century, comprises two bays. The upper storeys display applied half timbering with leaded casement windows, those on the first floor set within canted oriels. The jetty is underbuilt with a late 20th-century shopfront incorporating a separate entrance to the upper floors.

Internally, the building's initial phase comprises the jettied front range of two bays, originally divided by a stud partition wall. A quarter landing staircase lies to the north-west; the turned balusters at second floor level suggest a date in the first half of the 18th century. To the rear are two parallel gabled ranges of two storeys. The western range was timber-framed and clad with weatherboarding; it was partially renewed around 1989. The north-east range was added at the same time.

A substantial proportion of the original timber-framed structure survives behind later cladding. The ceiling structure includes the jetty and chamfered joists laid flat and tenoned into a bridging beam. Trimmer beams to the rear of the eastern bay indicate a possible stair opening. The original ground floor partition to the front range has been removed, and the partition between the shop and entrance hallway to the upper floors is probably an early 20th-century insertion. On the first floor, principal posts and stretcher beams are connected by curved braces, or evidence for removed braces survives in the form of peg holes. The first floor partition remains, including a possible intercommunicating doorway. The original studs of the western party wall have been replaced by a series of rails tenoned into widely-spaced studs.

Little structural framing is visible on the second floor of the front range. The eaves level of the rear pitch is at floor level, whereas that of the front pitch is at ceiling level. The rear pitch is steeper than the front, and has a side purlin with arch braces. The partition incorporates a rail approximately 0.5 metres above floor level into which is tenoned a post terminating in a V-cut joint. Both front rooms have plank and batten doors with fixtures of late 17th or earlier 18th-century date. A rafter removed in 1989 was inscribed 'DWD 1726'. It is possible that the front range was originally of two storeys, and that the present second floor represents the heightening of the former roofspace.

The modern suspended ceiling and shop fittings of the ground-floor retail unit are not of special interest, as declared under section 1(5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990.