No. 6 Clark'S Yard

WHITBY

665/2/407 CHURCH STREET 04-DEC-72 NO 6, CLARK'S YARD (Formerly listed as: CHURCH STREET 6)

II Small town house. Late C18

MATERIALS Brick to the front, mainly in Flemish bond, rear wall of coursed stone, mainly herringbone tooled. Modern pantile roof covering.

PLAN Single depth of two bays, the single entrance being just right (east) of centre. Winder staircase just east of centre at the rear. The eastern bay on both the first and attic floors is subdivided to form a landing and two small rooms.

EXTERIOR Front (south): Six-panelled door protected by a shallow porch. This porch is timber panelled with a decorative top light and a flat hood with a cornice. First and second floor windows are hornless sashes with exposed sash boxes. The windows to the right are 8-over-8 pane, those to the left are wider, being 10-over-10 pane. Stone wedge lintels. Evidence that the ground floor windows had external shutters. Roof dormers are a later addition. End stacks shared with abutting properties. Stone coping to the west gable.

Rear: The rear is blind except for a fixed light stair window and a tiny first floor window that is a modern insertion. The stonework is of two builds, mainly of well dressed and coursed large blocks, but with an area of rougher rubble stonework to the ground floor western bay.

INTERIOR Ground floor: Six-panelled doors to the small wind lobby, the staircase in the east room and also to the principal reception room to the west. This reception room has timber architraves to the door, window and the former built-in cupboards flanking the fireplace. Architraving is probably early C19 and features corner blocks with concentric circles.

First floor: Western room also has a 6-panelled door with an architrave with corner blocks. The fire place has a stone surround matching the architraves and retains a hob grate.

Attic: Stick balustrade to the landing. The western room has a hog grate with a simple stone surround. Doors are 4-panel and have been rehung. The roof structure is of sawn timber with pegged purlins and a ridge board. A single truss is probably encased in the stud wall dividing the attic.

HISTORY A conveyance dated 1829 relates to the transfer of the property from the Sanders family to Peter Larking. It includes a clause stipulating that the only opening in the north wall of the property should be a single fixed light of obscure glass of a set size, expressly to light the staircase. The dimensions specified match that of the current stair window. The conveyance refers to previous wills dating back to 1787 that relate to the property.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION No. 6 Clark's Yard, Church Street is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons: * As a good example of a pre-1840 town house. * For the survival of such features as the porch, sash windows with exposed sash boxes, and internally the two hob grates and the early C19 architraves.