Summary
An early-C19 house, extended in the mid to late-C20.
History
The historic core of Hinckley centres around The Borough and its connecting streets, with St Mary’s Church 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.
The 1782 map of Hinckley shows the site of 2 Church Walk densely developed. The current building is likely to date to the early-C19, and its footprint can be discerned on the first edition OS of 1889. To the east on Church Walk (then Church Street) was a row of small historic thatched cottages, which were demolished in the early 1960s. Following the demolition of these cottages, the building was extended to the east in the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s.
Details
An early-C19 house, extended in the mid to late-C20.
MATERIALS: red brick with banded stucco at ground-floor level and stucco detailing and tiled hipped roof.
PLAN: rectangular on plan with the principal elevation facing south.
EXTERIOR: The principal (south) elevation is three storeys high with four bays, following the curve of Church Walk. There are twelve sash windows in this elevation, four at each floor level, all with eight-over-two windows, the lower floors having frosted lower panes. At ground-floor level the façade is stuccoed with channelled rustication, with stucco lintels and keystones inscribed above the windows. Below the first-floor window sills is a plat band and cornice in stucco. Between the first and second windows is a highly ornamented timber doorcase. This has a rectangular fanlight, flanked by Doric columns and entablature with a triglyph frieze incorporating gothic quatrefoils. At first floor level there are four windows, each in a stucco panel which stretches between the lower cornice and a higher plat band and string course at second floor sill level. At second floor level there are four further windows, each within the stucco panel which continues from the first floor. At the eastern end of the church walk elevation is a flat-roofed extension from the 1960s or 1970s, in pink-brown brick. This has five simple sash windows in imitation of the main building, three at first floor and two at ground floor. The westernmost bay has a simple panelled door.
On the west elevation, fronting Station Road, the façade is stuccoed at ground floor with channelled rustication. As on the Church Walk elevation the two ground floor windows have stucco lintels and keystones. At first-floor level, a large bay window extends down into the line of the stucco. This has a simple moulding to the base and cornice to the top. The plat band and string course continue on this elevation as on the Church Walk elevation. Above it are two sash windows, more widely spaced than at ground level, with stucco surrounds.
The eastern elevation is dominated by the late C20 extension. This is two storeys high on Church Walk and one storey high behind, with a flat roof. There are five windows at ground floor level and two above.
