93, High Street

This is a mid-19th century house with a shop, located in Barnstaple High Street. The side walls incorporate earlier fabric, dating back to at least the 17th century. The building was largely rebuilt in 1850 by RD Gould of Barnstaple.

The house is arranged as a gallery-and-back-block. The front block's internal partitions have been removed, but the position of the chimneys indicates a plan of one room wide by two rooms deep. The back block extends three rooms to the rear, with the front room separated from the others by a stone wall. A courtyard between the two blocks has been infilled on the ground floor; a 19th-century gallery runs along the left side in the upper storeys. A former kitchen is located at the rear of the back block.

The building is three storeys high and one window wide. A shop front had been removed by 1993. The second floor has a tripartite window with narrow side-lights, flanked by panelled pilasters which support an entablature. The entablature features an enriched frieze and dentilled cornice, broken in the centre by a segmental pediment resting on moulded consoles. The window contains coloured leaded glass. A similar window is located on the third floor, embellished with a deep panelled frieze topped by a triangular pediment which projects forward from a moulded top cornice and blocking-course, featuring a central wreath. The windows have barred sashes with four panes in the centre and two at the sides, with a moulded cill continued as a plain band across the front.

The interior was undergoing substantial rebuilding when inspected. Stripping of plaster revealed a chamfered stone window frame on the left side wall of the front block, approximately halfway down. A 19th-century wooden dogleg staircase with closed strings, column newels, and thin square balusters (many of which are missing) is found in the front section of the back block. The front block has a king-post-and-ridge roof, while the back block has an A-frame roof without a tie beam, with collars pegged to the faces of the principal rafters. Later 20th-century small-paned wood windows are present in the rear elevations.

Historical records indicate that the name “D (or B?) A Lilley” with the date 1850 was discovered in 19th-century handwriting in the cellar and behind the ground-storey panelling. The property was formerly owned by the Barnstaple Bridge Trust until 1959 and was occupied in 1857 by William Lilley & Co, linen and woollen drapers. The house stands within a terrace of listed buildings.