Summary
Late-C18 house with C19 extensions and late-C20 and early-C21 shopfront.
History
The historic core of Hinckley centres around The Borough and its connecting streets, with the church of St Mary to the south-east. A settlement existed in Hinckley during Roman times, but the origins of today's town are a Saxon village called Hinca's Leah. In the C12 a priory and a Norman motte-and-bailey castle were built in the village, and by the C13 it had grown into a small market town, centred around The Borough, with Stockwell Head and Castle Street stretching to the east and Coventry Street or Duck Paddle Street (now Regent Street) to the south-west. In 1640 the first stocking frame was brought to Hinckley, marking the beginning of the stocking weaving industry which was to dominate the town for over two hundred years. Hinckley prospered on the success of this industry, and many of the surviving buildings of the historic core date to the rebuilding and modernising of the town centre carried out in the C17 and C18. The arrival of the South Leicestershire Railway in 1862 allowed the stocking industry to expand with steam-powered frames and large factories, and the corresponding prosperity allowed the town to expand significantly beyond its historic core. The wider town is now characterised by the C19 houses and civic architecture erected during this time of expansion.
35-37 Castle Street are likely to have been constructed in the late-C18. The Historic Environment Record notes that there is extensive timber framing in the internal cross walls at second floor level. This may be remnants of an earlier timber-framed building on the site, but substantial internal timber framing was also common in newly built houses of late-C18 date. Between 1879 and her death in 1884, the romantic novelist Charlotte Brame, who was born in Hinckley, lived with her family in the building. The ground floor extension to the east appears to have been added between the date of the survey of the 1889 Ordnance Survey map, and its revision in 1901. This addition may mark the point at which the ground floors of the building were converted into shops. By 1923, when the Ordnance Survey map was next revised, the building had been subdivided into three separate properties, 35 and 37 on Castle Street, and the rear wing on Church Walk.
Between the survey dates of the 1961 OS map and 1966-1976, a small angled extension was added to the south (rear) of the ground floor extension. In 1989, a new metal-framed shopfront was added to 35 Castle Street. In 2008, windows were replaced at 37 Castle Street, and in 2019 the shopfront, display windows and door were altered and refurbished.
Details
Late-C18 house with C19 extensions and late-C20 and early-C21 shopfront.
MATERIALS: red brick with a tiled roof.
PLAN: the main building has a hipped roof to Castle Street whilst the wing and extensions to the rear have gabled roofs.
CASTLE STREET (NORTH) ELEVATION: the house is three storeys high with a symmetrical design of three bays. To the left and right corners of the Castle Street elevation are simple brick pilasters. At ground floor there are two separate shop fronts, to the left a 2019 remodelling in historic style, with simple reeded pilasters to either side of the windows and a plain signboard with lighting. To the right is a late-C20 red metal-framed shopfront, with a red framed glass door. Between the two shopfronts is a panelled timber doorcase with an open pediment and flanking pilasters. The door is panelled and has a semi-circular fanlight above decorated with stained glass. At first floor level, three evenly-spaced windows containing six-over-six sashes are topped with shallow segmental arches decorated with stucco lintels. Two circular pattress plates above the left-hand window indicate an historic structural repair. At second floor level, three windows with three-over-six sashes are similarly topped with stucco lintels. Above these is a simple cornice, and above this is a substantial timber gutter cased with lead ornamented with star motifs.
CHURCH WALK (EAST) ELEVATION: the main body of the building is three storeys high, with a two-storey rear wing with a gabled roof to the south. In front of the main building, projecting into Church Walk is a single-storey extension with shopfront and corner entrance. The ground floor of this elevation is principally the shopfront, remodelled in 2019 in imitation historic style, with reeded pilasters to the corners and a plain sign board. To the left of the shopfront is an angled, late-C20 extension. At first floor level, this elevation is less symmetrical than that of Castle Street. The windows are an array of widths and heights, though all have multiple lights with glazing bars and sashes. There are four windows at first-floor and three at second-floor level, with the fourth bay blank. Four pattress plates indicate historic structural repair. Between the first and second bays, and on the corner with Castle Street, are simple brick pilasters. The unusual lead covered gutter visible on Castle Street is particularly prominent on this elevation and forms a substantial element of the character of the building. The two-storey extension to the rear has a simple corbelling detail at eaves level with a single ten-over-ten sash window.
INTERIOR: restored open string dog-leg staircase with turned balusters, fluted square newels, moulded handrail and shaped tread ends. Segmental arch in entrance hall and on first floor landing with imposts and keystone.
