1, Court Street

House with shop premises on Court Street, Moretonhampstead. Originally built in the late 15th or early 16th century as a residential property, probably comprising three rooms divided by low screens. The building underwent significant alterations during the 16th and early 17th centuries, was extended in the 18th century, and was substantially remodelled in the 19th century when the shop was inserted and exterior modifications made.

The structure is constructed of stuccoed granite rubble with some cob. The roof is covered in asbestos slate, replacing the original thatch, with a hipped end at the left (east) end and a gabled end abutting No. 3 to the right. The building is two storeys with a three-window range across its front.

The original layout likely had the hall occupying the right (west) end, with the lower end at the left (east). Floors were inserted during the 16th or early 17th century, beginning at the ends and finally at the hall when an axial stack was built. In the 18th century, the left end was extended eastward and to the rear, and a lateral rear stack was constructed to heat the divided east end. The eaves were raised during floor insertion and again in the 19th century when the exterior was remodelled.

The ground floor contains a 20th-century three-light casement window to the right, a small plate glass window at the centre, and a late 19th-century double-fronted shop with plate glass windows and simple fascia to the left, which continues around the left-hand return. The first floor has three late 19th-century sash windows with horizontal glazing bars only. The left-hand return end features a three-window range of similar sashes, with a splayed corner, rendered lateral stack, and a stone rubble lean-to with rounded corner.

Interior features include three smoke-blackened roof trusses at the west end. The east truss has a triangular apex block with notched apex for a diagonal ridge, principals trenched for purlins, smoke-blackened rafters set on the back of the principals, and a side-pegged morticed collar with plastered wattle and daub panel above. The middle truss is entirely smoke-blackened with a plated yoke halved into the apex held by nails and a small notch presumably for the diagonal ridge. The principals have holes for threaded purlins and a cambered collar with chamfered soffit morticed to the principals. The west truss is also smoke-blackened on both sides, with threaded diagonal ridge and threaded purlins.

The east end was once the parlour and retains a framed ceiling with intersecting beams featuring ogee and hollow moulding, with similarly moulded joists with run-out stops. The half beams of this ceiling do not sit against the east and north walls, indicating these walls were rebuilt to enlarge the room. An 18th-century stack with fireplace on the north side has timber corbels supporting a half beam of the earlier framed ceiling. Part of a plank and muntin screen survives under a plastered partition on the west side of the room. The ceiling beam in the west room, probably the hall, has been covered over and its fireplace blocked.

This is among the earliest buildings in Moretonhampstead and one of only four or five with medieval smoke-blackened roof timbers. Medieval roofs are rare in town settings. The roof truss with its unusual apex yoke is particularly noteworthy.