15 And 16, Church Street

A pair of town houses dating to the late 15th century, with alterations and an inserted floor and staircase in the early 17th century. The houses are constructed of close-studded timber framing, brickwork, and have a tile roof with brick stacks. They have a right-angle plan, with paired gables facing the street. Originally jettied, the front block is three-storey and two-bay, linked by a central gallery to a two-storey rear block, which incorporates a 17th-century inserted ceiling in the upper hall.

The upper gables contain blocked two-light casements with mullions, under a moulding, above three-light casements with a transom; No.15 includes a horizontal bar 19th-century casement. Similar fenestration, in brickwork and under a moulded bressumer, is present on the first floor, with early 18th-century twelve-pane sashes at ground floor level. A six-panel door, with a transom-light, is positioned to the left, and a nine-panel door, with a shallow transom-light, to the right, accessed by two high sandstone steps. The rear block features Perpendicular Gothic moulded capitals to shafts beneath a jetty, and there are two brick valley stacks and a third set back.

The interior is divided into two separate properties. No.15 features a triple-chamfered bressumer to the former shop, with mullion mortices and set back beneath a former jetty. The first floor has a chamfered brace and wallpost; the second floor exhibits a double-chamfered tie beam with chamfered braces. A dogleg staircase, incorporating reset early 17th-century turned balusters, occupies the central section, and a former first-floor gallery includes wind-bracing and an arch-braced truss. There are two chamfered four-centre arched doorframes, a T-framed partition with tension bracing, and a good 15th-century ribbed door. The rear room features a wall plate, and c.1600 posts support inserted ceiling beams. The roof has a smoke-blackened arch-braced truss with hollow and wave moulding; the king post has been removed, and there are chamfered tenoned purlins with wind-bracing.

No.16 contains a dogleg staircase with simple column-on-vase balusters, a first floor similar to No.15, and an inserted second floor with late 15th-century quarter-moulded bridging beams and a wall plate. The front section roof has a chamfered arch-braced central truss with trenched purlins, and collared trusses at each end with wind-braces. This is a significant town house showing a plan typical of medieval town houses, with a front block linked to a substantial rear block featuring what appears to be a hall built at first-floor level.