79, High Street

This is a house dating from the 16th century or possibly earlier, constructed of roughcast rubble stone with stone tiled roofs. It has a Z-shaped layout, consisting of a main range with a gable facing the street, and wings projecting to the northeast and southwest. There are end wall stacks to the wings, and a ridge stack to the main range.

The front of the house, facing the street (east), features a prominent coped gable above a 2-light hollow-moulded mullion window over a 3-light flush chamfered mullion window. A studded plank door is set within a chamfered surround to the right. The east side of the northeast wing has a dormer gable with a 2-light recessed cyma-moulded window above a 2-light ovolo-moulded window. The north gable end of the northeast wing includes a blank panel and an end wall stack on the east roof slope.

The rear west wall has a stack and a large lean-to extension adjacent to the main range, with a door leading to the cross-passage. The original pointed-arched doorway with a plank door to the cross-passage is located within this lean-to. The north front of the main range features a ground floor 2-light and a single-light window to the right of the lean-to, alongside an upper 2-light window, all with ovolo-moulding. The roof is hipped at the northwest angle.

A stone-tiled single-story addition extends from the west end, and on the west side of the southwest wing is a recessed chamfered mullion window with a hoodmould to each floor; a 2-light window above and a 3-light window below. The south gable end is windowless and slightly projects beyond the south front of the main range. The south front displays a pointed-arched former door to the cross-passage, now fitted with a 4-pane intersecting glazing bar window. Above is a small hipped eaves-breaking dormer with a 2-light ovolo-moulded window in the gable, and a blocked ground floor window to the right.

Inside, the southeast corner has a heavy 4-panel beamed ceiling extending over the present entrance passage. The room above this has a wind-brace and a stone Tudor-arched fireplace with a shelf. There is a closed string stair with a moulded rail, and a panelled door from the stair leads to an upper room in the northeast corner. The cross-passage features a pointed arched doorway on the east side, leading to the entrance passage, and two doorways on the west side; one to the rear passage, and one to a ground floor room in the southwest wing, which has a moulded Tudor-arched fireplace. The house was owned by the Bolton or Tomson family from around 1540 to 1597, then L. Kington (1597-1606), and subsequently by W. Moxham and his descendants (1606-1762), before being bought by P. Methuen.