65 And 67, Gloucester Road

The property at 65 and 67 Gloucester Road is a house, originally a hall house, built in the early 15th century. It was later refronted in the late 18th century and subsequently divided into two separate dwellings. The construction utilizes rendered limestone rubble with a brick ridge and axial stacks, and features a stone slate roof.

The original plan comprised three rooms, with a through-passage formerly backing onto a hall on the right-hand side (now 65), and a former service area to the left (now 67). The hall retains a fine arch-braced ceiling, although evidence of smoke blackening is limited. The upper end of the hall was rebuilt, forming part of the adjacent property at number 63.

The exterior presents two storeys and an attic, with a three-window front. The facade is near-symmetrical to number 65, featuring a recessed central doorway with a half-glazed door, recessed windows, paired 4/4-pane ground-floor sashes, and matching double left-hand casements. The first floor has 8/8-pane sash windows, and a small dormer window. Number 67 has a left-hand doorway with a 3-pane overlight and a 6-panel door, with the top two panels glazed, along with paired 4/4-pane and 8/8-pane sash windows. The rear elevation is of rubble construction, with a rebuilt brick section on the first floor to the left.

Internally, the roof is a 5-bay structure with faint soot blackening across both 65 and 67. It incorporates chamfered, arch-braced collars, wind braces (or mortices for them) to tenoned purlins, and a threaded ridge beam, with the upper faces of the trusses facing the right-hand end. Lath and plaster partitions were installed. Number 65 features ceiling beams with wide chamfers on the first floor, and a 15th-century moulding in the left-hand bedroom. A similarly-moulded beam, likely re-set, is in the ground-floor right-hand room. Steps lead down to a cellar cut into rock, situated beside an inserted stack, formerly along the through-passage. A 18th-century stone fire surround with moulded sides and roundels is also present. Number 67 has a winder stair to the rear of a left-hand stack which projects into the adjacent property at number 69.

Historically, the building was a hall house on the edge of town, originally featuring a through-passage. The ridge and bracing details are similar to those found in the early 15th-century property at 9 Oxford Street.