17 High Street, Waddesdon, a former butchers shop with associated house, barn and stable/slaughterhouse

17 High Street, Waddesdon

A former butchers shop with associated house, barn and stable/slaughterhouse. The original house dates from the 1870s and is constructed of yellow stock brick with a pitched slate roof. The western range, including the commercial unit, barn, stables and slaughterhouse, was added around 1899 and is built of red brick with a half-hipped slate roof. All brickwork is in Flemish bond. The stable/slaughterhouse is of red brick in Flemish bond with a weather-boarded upper storey and clay pan-tile roof.

The buildings occupy a wide plot on the south side of the High Street. The original house, which originally formed the western half of a pair of semi-detached houses, occupies the eastern part of the plot. A later transverse range was added to the west. Each range contains two rooms on each floor, with an additional single-storey kitchen to the rear of the east range. A ground-floor commercial unit is situated at the front of the western range. A straight flight staircase with moulded treads runs from a small lobby at the rear of the eastern range.

The north elevation features a distinctive timber shopfront with a canopy supported by timber brackets and a dagger-board valance. Atop the canopy is a framed timber sign reading 'ADAMS' in gold lettering. Below the canopy is a cast iron rail used to hang and display carcasses. A large timber four-over-four sash window sits beneath, which could be opened to sell goods externally. Above the window is a cast iron ventilation grille. The frames, surrounds and painted timber panelled stall-riser (which originally bore painted lettering stating 'FAMILY BUTCHER') frame the shopfront. The principal entrance to the shop and accommodation is a four-panel door with transom. The upper storey has a three-over-three horned sash window with a rubbed brick lintel and stone sill. The half-hipped roof features timber bargeboards. The east range has similar windows to each floor. The side elevation has a single ground floor two-over-two horned sash window in a segmental arched opening serving the shop.

Three red brick chimney stacks stand at full original height, each with a projecting band and square-section pale terracotta chimney pots.

The butchers shop occupies the front room of the ground floor and is lined with painted matchboard panelling to walls and ceiling. To the left of the entrance is a white-tiled ceramic countertop running below the front window and along the east wall, with a matchboard-clad space for the cashier at its end. Behind the counter the northern wall has matchboard panelling with the moulded surround of a blocked doorway (the four-panelled door remains on the other side). Above the sash window are five meat hooks, and cast iron brackets for a meat rail run across the window. A suspended cast iron meat rail runs along the top of the east wall. The floor is concrete. A white refrigeration cabinet with glazed double-doors and a metal plaque reading 'THOMAS HALL & SON LTD. REFRIDGERATING ENGINEERS, INSULATING CONTRACTORS, ROTHERHAM' stands along the southern wall.

At the back of the shop, a four-panelled door with etched glass in the upper panels (decorated with a circular floral design) leads to the rear of the building. The rear room includes a fireplace with marble surround and tiled register grate, decorated ceramic floor tiles and brass and cast-iron fender.

A red clay tiled corridor connects to the original rear room of the eastern range, which contains a 1930s cast iron cooking range and grate set in a fireplace with a timber mantlepiece with consoles. Original fitted cupboards flank either side of the range, and the four-panelled under-stair cupboard door has a spring latch. An internal sash window looks through to the single-storey kitchen, indicating this was a later addition. The front room of the eastern range includes a fireplace with marble surround and brass and cast-iron fender. Doors throughout are original four-panel doors, and most joinery, timber fire surrounds and metal grates survive.

The rear elevation of the west range has a sash window to each floor (that on the ground floor set in a segmental brick arch) and a six-panel timber door with transom. The house extends further to the rear with a single-storey kitchen including a ledged and braced door and a three-over-six sash window.

To the rear of the building are three outhouses arranged in a courtyard. A small red brick privy with plank door stands immediately to the south of the house. The interior contains an earth closet and timber seat. Abutting the privy is a timber-frame weather-boarded barn or large shed with cart doors to the west, paired six-pane casement windows to the south and a corrugated iron roof. The interior contains a mid-20th century cool store.

The two-storey combined stables and slaughterhouse has red brick walls to the ground floor and weatherboarded timber-framing above with a pantile roof. The front (north) elevation features a stable door with a plank hayloft door above. The slaughterhouse has double cart doors (one with a six-pane window) and a louvred window above. Internally the stable contains two stalls separated by a timber partition, wooden troughs, tack brackets, an iron hayrack and brick floors. The east elevation has a three-over-six sash window. The rear room running behind the stables provides access to the rear of the slaughterhouse via a stable door and contains a timber tethering post and concrete floor with an L-shaped drain. The slaughterhouse interior is plastered above a brick plinth. In the south-west corner, below a four-pane window and next to an external plank door, is a brick tank lined with white ceramic tiles. The west elevation features a tripartite casement window. The roof beams of the double-height space have hooks, and iron meat rails run along the eastern wall.

The shop has a timber shopfront with fascia signage of pigmented glass with gold lettering. The interior includes timber panelling and ceramic tile details. The stable/slaughterhouse represents the functional rear of the butchers business, with facilities for containing, slaughtering and processing animals in a purpose-built sequence.