45, Church Street

This is a house, now divided into two commercial premises. It likely dates from the late 16th century, with probable additions from the late 17th and 18th centuries. Later 19th-century cladding and 20th-century alterations have also impacted the building. The construction is timber frame with a brick underbuilding and tile cladding featuring decorative bands of fishscale tiles. The roof is covered in plain tiles.

The building is two storeys high, with an attic in the rear section. The front section, which has a gable end facing the street, originally comprised two bays. A third bay was added to the rear in the late 17th century, projecting on either side. A late 19th-century porch has been added on the right side, set into the angle of the building. A dormer window has been added to the right side of the front range, and a single-storey office was added to the right in the mid to late 20th century (although this is not considered to be of special interest). The front of the building includes a 20th-century shop window and two windows with architraves above, beneath a hipped roof. The porch features a panelled door with pointed-arched glazed upper panels.

On the left return, a 20th-century glass door is sheltered by a 19th-century pent roof and bracketed overhang, with a 20th-century window above. A truncated chimney is visible, retaining some stone quoins and old brick at the base, although much of the brickwork has been renewed.

The interior retains timber framing in the two front bays, with mortices in the soffits of the crossbeams between the bays, indicating the former presence of walls. The first floor and ceiling are likely later insertions. A pointed-arched light and tension brace is visible in the left wall of the rear bay. A section of the roof is visible, revealing a queen post truss at the rear, with square-section rafters and braces. The chimney includes a large fireplace with a timber surround on the ground floor, the bressumer having sawn-off ends of what were likely projecting timbers, probably supporting coving. On the first floor, a fireplace has a stone surround with a moulded architrave and shallow Tudor arch on plinths. The ground floor also has an old board door under the stairs (leading to the first-floor premises) and a rear wall of rubblestone with a reused nail-studded cross-fly board door leading into a 19th-century brick, sorrel-vaulted chamber, likely a former safe.