The Mustard House

The Mustard House is a pair of houses, originally dating from the 15th or 16th century, and subsequently altered in the 20th century. They are located on Barton Street in Tewkesbury. The building is a large timber-frame structure with brick nogging, covered by a concrete tile roof. The plan features a broad frontage and parallel layout with two jettied storeys, and includes a throughway to the left, with a mansard roof. While the front elevation has been reconstructed with new timbers, the interior retains significant elements of the original framing, much of which is exposed.

The exterior presents three storeys, an attic and a basement, with a four-windowed facade. The first and second floors contain 20-pane replacement sash windows. The ground floor has a 19th-century double shop front with recessed double doors, transom lights, and a stall-riser, topped by a shallow fascia with decorative console brackets. An opening for the throughway is visible to the left, also with a console bracket. The timbered gables contain 20th-century casement lights. The rear features twin gables, lower than the main ridge, in renewed brick-nogged framing above plain brickwork, with various 20th-century windows. A further gabled wing extends to the right.

The interior boasts unusually lofty rooms at each level. The ground floor has been opened up, but retains a moulded plaster cornice in the right-hand section, dividing the ceiling into two large compartments. A 19th-century plank door and an early cast-iron small-pane casement are located at the rear. The basement reveals some stonework in the party walls, along with several recesses with flat pointed heads. Two very large but decayed chamfered beams remain. A 17th-century open-well staircase features square newels, twisted balusters, a moulded solid string, and a moulded handrail. Throughout the building are heavy framing members, including large posts and a deep cambered tie. The roof structure at the front incorporates three pairs of upper crucks, allowing access to a probable former storage area. The extensive restoration of the street frontage obscures a substantial interior of historic interest. The building's name refers to Tewkesbury’s former prominence in the production of "mustard balls”.