General Stores

This is a house and shop, dating from the 15th century to the 19th century, with later alterations. It is located in Mitcheldean, Gloucestershire. The building is constructed of rendered stone on timber framing to the front, coursed squared stone to the right-hand wing, and roughly squared stone to the rear. It has asbestos slate roofs. The plan is in a U-shape, with each wing one room deep and a courtyard open to the rear.

The street facade is divided into left and right sections. The left section is a four-bay, two-window building. It has a 20th-century door to the right of centre, an early 19th century 2-light casement window to the right, and a 15-pane horizontal window on the left, along with two top-hung casements. There is a jetty to the first floor, with exposed main beams creating two wide and two narrow bays. Late 20th-century 2-light casement windows are on the first floor. The roof is continuous with the section on the right and with Church Cottage to the left. The right section is a four-bay building with a late 20th-century shop front. The jetty is higher than on the left, with a slight projection on the left that tapers to nothing on the right. The first floor has a 2-light casement window on the left, and two additional windows are covered over in the centre and right. At the right-hand end, a stone gable marks the one-and-a-half-storey wing, which is said to have been a malthouse. The ground floor has double boarded doors under a timber lintel; there is a square boarded-up window in the gable. On the right return, the remains of stone steps lead to a former upper-floor door. A row of beeboles is formed in the rear gable.

Internally, the left section has large gable chimneys below roof level. On the ground floor at the left end, a panelled door with butterfly hinges leads to a cupboard. The ceiling has exposed chamfered beams, and on the first floor, some close-studded timber framing is exposed at the rear. The roof comprises three collar trusses, two with double collars, a short king-post, and principals cut short at the upper collar. The shop section on the right has exposed, moulded cross-beams to the left part of the ground floor ceiling. A first-floor ceiling was inserted over part of the space before the 18th century. Sortie timber framing is exposed internally in the front wall. One roof truss is closed, while three are open; these latter are arch-braced collar trusses, one with a cambered tie beam and braces to walls, with a top triangle foil. The wing to the right has seven-bay collar trusses with angle struts; originally, only one truss had a tie beam. The building began as two separate buildings, each with a rear wing, forming an L-plan, and they have now been combined into a single use and ownership.