128, High Street

No. 128, High Street is a house in a row, now used as offices, with a shop. It dates from the late 18th century to the early 16th century, with a later facade on an earlier core. The front is of Flemish bond brickwork, with a timber-frame and brick or plaster panels, and tile roofs. Brick stacks are present. The high parapeted front conceals a steep transverse roof to the front range, beyond which is a long, gabled wing in two stages. Access to the upper floors is from a side entry in Post Office Alley. The building is three storeys high, with an attic and basement, and has a three-window front. The windows are four-pane sashes, set within painted brick voussoirs featuring fluted or decorative keys and cornices, with stone sills. A 19th-century shop front is on the ground floor, with a recessed central door framed by console brackets under a moulded cornice. Blocked flat, elliptical-headed openings are located in the stall-board risers either side of the basement entrance. A concrete-coped parapet and a rendered right return gable complete the external details. The long wing has steep-pitched roofs over square panel framing with plaster panels. The outer gable has an external brick stack. A flight of 20th-century steps leads to the first-floor offices.

Inside, the ground floor has been opened up, featuring full-width chamfered beams, one of which is supported by two cast-iron columns. Large corner posts, formerly with jetty brackets, are set back from the facade, with the ends of the former jetty joists approximately one metre inside the glass. Some 17th-century panelling is visible on the party walls, and there is reset panelling in a back partition. The upper floors, extensively restored around 1980, feature many exposed timbers including heavy jowelled posts; one post, located back right on the first floor, is unusually heavy and has a continuous vertical V-groove on one side. Chamfered and stopped beams are present, and the attic retains early rafters and wind bracing. There are no exposed fireplaces. This building is a good example of a later facade concealing medieval fabric, a common characteristic with side alley access facilitating different uses of the ground and upper floors. A thorough restoration has revealed many of the original structural timbers.