12 and 14 High Street

House, built in late C16 and early C17, now two commercial units with accommodation above. It was re-fronted in the early C18; altered internally in the early C19, and restored around 1980.     MATERIALS: built from rubble stone with stucco, some close studding to the rear, and rubble stone and timber-framed rear wings; extended later in stone and brick. There are party wall and gable-end chimney stacks and roofs of plain tile and slate.     PLAN: U-shaped plan, comprising front range to High Street and rear wings at right angles which were later extended.      EXTERIOR: the building has two storeys and an attic with two rooflights on the front roof slope. It has a symmetrical front elevation with a parapet, plain central doorway and a C20, six-panel door. To the right of this doorway is an early-C19 shop front with incised pilasters, fascia, cornice, panelled stall riser, three-light shop window and half-glazed right-hand door. The shop front to the left dates from the late C20 and has a plate-glass window. The first floor has five six-over-six-pane sash windows in exposed frames. The rear elevation has a central gable with close studding and a first-floor, full-width casement window with moulded mullions and a shallow overhang. The flanking rear wings have stone ground floors, that to the north with a timber-framed first floor, and later extensions. The extension to the rear of 12 High Street is a separate dwelling, Little House. The rear extension to 14 was formerly single storey and raised in the C20.     INTERIOR: 14 High Street contains a first-floor plaster ceiling of 1570 with square and circles with foliage and roundels bearing the merchant's mark of Thomas Bingley. The ceiling is similar to that of the through passage to 14. On the second floor the purlins and principal rafters of the roof structure are exposed. There is also an early-C19 rear open-well stair with stick balusters and a curved rail. The ground-floor shop of 14 has an early-C19 painted ceiling with flowers and corner modules. 12 High Street has a first-floor fireplace with a four-centre-arched lintel. The roof has C16 and C17 trusses with cambered collars and tie beams.