Summary
An C18 and earlier house, subdivided, altered and extended in the C19 and C20.
Reasons for Designation
No. 64 High Street and no. 2 Queens Road Wivenhoe are listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Architectural interest: despite some alterations, the buildings retain a significant proportion of historic fabric, a well-executed facade and where observed, timber framing of good craftsmanship;
* Historic interest: the historic alteration to the buildings demonstrates the development of domestic buildings in an increasingly industrialised urban area;
* Group value: Group Value with the adjacent Greyhound Public House, no. 58 and no. 56 High Street, listed at Grade II, adds to their special interest.
History
Wivenhoe has Saxon origins; the Domesday Book of 1086 records a small settlement of fewer than thirty adults, livestock and a mill.
In the early C15, the town was owned by the Earls of Oxford, passing to Roger Townshend in the late C16. It seems probable that riverine trade and fishing played a significant economic role in the early development of the town. Ship building is documented from the late-C16 and continued to be an important activity throughout the post-medieval period producing both commercial and military craft near to the quayside up until the mid-C20. A vibrant port had developed by the C18. Shipbuilding continued to dominate and associated buildings such as public houses, maltings and housing, grew in number. A bath-house was built in 1750 by local doctor, Horace Flack and a workhouse was constructed at The Cross. Racing vessels were built from the early C19, and continued to be produced throughout the century. The town expanded with the coming of the railways, when its fishery could reach wider audiences, but until the mid-C20 shipbuilding still dominated the economic fortunes of the town. Military vessels and sections of the mulberry harbour, crucial to the success of the D-day landings, were built here, but both of the principal shipyards went out of business in the late-C20.
The draft Conservation Area Appraisal of 2007 describes Wivenhoe as an attractive small port which retains its maritime character along the Quay and Anchor Hill. Its historic core, nestling beside the river Colne and framed to the north by the C14 Church of St. Mary, is visually distinctive and maintains the vibrancy of its historic past.
No. 2 Queens Road and no. 64 High Street were once a single building, but had been subdivided into two units by the time of the first edition Ordnance Survey (OS) map of 1874. There have been a number of alterations. A part-double and single storey rear wing has been added to no. 2 Queens Road attached to which is a single storey, flat-roofed addition with UPVC windows which forms part of no. 64 High Street.
Details
A C18 and earlier house, extended and subdivided in the C19 with C20 alterations and additions.
MATERIALS: the C18 range is of red brick in Flemish bond with some blue-headers. Timber-framing survives in no. 64 High Street. The rear wing of no. 2 Queens Road is part-weatherboarded. The roof is peg-tiled.
PLAN: Rectangular range with a rear outshot under a catslide roof, with added rear wings.
EXTERIOR: A two-storey building with a gabled roof and two inset brick end-stacks and a moulded brick eaves course. The facade (west) has a door to each dwelling in plain cases, central to the ground floor and beneath rubbed-brick flat arches. No. 64 has two-paned sashes to the ground and first floors to the right of the door under matching arches. Further to the right, there is a an additional entrance with a boarded door hung on strap hinges. Above is a three-over-six sash window. No. 2 Queens Road has a two-paned sash to the left of the entrance door and a C20 bow window on the first floor. The north elevation has been extended in the C19 and C20. There are two small-paned sashes on the first floor of the C18 phase, and a variety of C20 windows and openings in the rear wing.
INTERIOR: there are moulded bridging beams and relict framing in no. 64 High Street, where a two-panelled C18 door was also observed on the ground floor.
