The Post Office and the Beehive

The Post Office and The Beehive are two houses and a Post Office, possibly originally three separate dwellings, located on the northwest side of New Street in Painswick. The building has a 16th-century base with later modifications. The layout is complex, with The Beehive forming an L-shape that interlocks with the Post Office. The Beehive is constructed independently and at a slight angle to the adjoining property on the left. It features squared limestone rubble and a stone slate roof, with one storey and an attic. The front gable is cut down and has a 2-light chamfered mullion casement above a 3-light casement and a panelled and glazed door. Set back is a small single light with leading in a gablet above a 20th-century door.

The Post Office has a heavily timbered gable on the right, with a returned gable cutting into the left side. It has a stone slate roof and two storeys with two windows. The ground floor features a part-glazed door flanked by 10-pane and 19-pane shop windows, all under a continuous stone-slated pentice roof. On the first floor, there is a 2-light casement with leading and a 3-light steel casement. The timber framing continues to the right flank of the building.

The interior of The Beehive has not been inspected, but the Post Office contains a 4-compartment ceiling supported by very heavy chamfered beams on the ground floor, along with a large single stone fireplace with a flat arched 4-centred design and rosettes. The first floor has a plastered ceiling featuring fleur-de-lys, two pairs of crucks, and signs of smoke blackening on some roof timbers, indicating an open hall construction as part of the main timbered wing to the right. At the back of the Post Office, there is a room that includes a 2-light chamfered mullion casement and a stained fireplace. This area of the town is noted for its unusual richness, especially considering much of it has been rebuilt in the 18th and 19th centuries.