5 AND 6, MERMAID STREET

Details

TQ 9120 TQ 9220 MERMAID STREET (south side) 1/111 Nos 5 & 6 12.10.51

GV II

House, subdivided into two properties at one time. C15 front range with C17 inserted floor and C16 rear wing, restored in the 1920s. Timberframed with plaster infill, brick to the east wall and part of the ground floor of the rear wing. Tiled roof half-hipped to the east with brick chimneystack. Two storeys and attics, irregular fenestration of early C20 metal casements with leaded lights.

PLAN: Front range has two bays of a continuous jetty house, possibly originally an open hall, which may have extended further to the east or west with later L-wing to the south west.

EXTERIOR: The north or street front has a continuous jetty which is close-studded to the first floor, the ground floor also close-studded with imported curved beam and upright post to the left hand side. Gabled early C20 dormer, the first floor has two three-light and a single light casement and the ground floor one two-light and one four-light large mullioned and transomed casement. Wooden double door of four deep panels each side of early C18 date and imported. Part of an ornamental pump has been reused as a water spout. The east elevation is of brick to the top of the first floor and the attic has a timberframed wall of very thin scantling. The rear or south elevation also has close-studding to the first floor, is plastered and has a three-light casement window. The south west wing has a timberframed upper floor with three casements and a part brick, part timberframed ground floor. Part of an ornamental lead pump has been reused as a water spout.

INTERIOR: The ground floor north room has a ceiling with C17 axial beams and floor joists and south partition wall. There is an open fireplace to the east with a wooden bressumer of early C18 date but built-in cupboards on either side which are architectural salvage. A wooden cupboard in the south western corner appears to be of French C18 date. The south ground floor room to the main range has C17 axial beams and floor joists. The lounge in the rear wing has a replaced axial beam but some of the wall frame, including a curved brace to the western wall, is original. The open fireplace has a C16 wooden bressumer although the brickwork is early C20. Access to the upper floor is by a half-winder staircase with introduced elaborate turned balusters. The first floor eastern bedroom has two substantial tie beams with jowled posts, one with curved tension braces. The cupboards with plank doors were installed in the early C20. The western bedroom has curved braces to the western wall. The upper floor of the rear wing has been restored with a series of bolted knees added to the frame of the west wall. Some of the frame is of thin scantling and a fireplace to the south has a wooden bressumer but early C20 brickwork. The attic storey of the front range has two tall square section crownposts with head braces, collar beams and sans-purlin rafters.

HISTORY: A C15 continous jetty building of two bays, perhaps originally with open hall, with C17 inserted floor and C16 rear wing. In the C18 it was underbuilt on the ground floor to provide more room and refronted in brickwork and is shown in this condition in a photograph of circa 1900. In the 1920s the owner of the Mermaid Inn opposite, a Mr Blythe, purchased this building and removed the brick front to expose the timberframing, repaired the building with old timbers from elsewhere, imported old fittings and replaced all windows in metal framed casements with leaded lights. These works had been completed by 1937 as they are recorded in "Victoria County History Volume IX, published in that year. The building is shown on the First Edition Ordnance Survey map and on the 1904 and 1919 editions the building appears to be divided into two properties.

SOURCES: Pevsner and Nairn "Buildings of England. Sussex." Reprinted 1985. Page 598. "Victoria County History. Volume IX." Page 48.

SUMMARY OF IMPORTANCE An inspection has demonstrated that this is a timberframed building dating from the C15 and therefore of considerable architectural interest. During the 1920s restoration an C18 front was removed, and salvaged architectural fittings added. The building retains a substantial part of its original fabric, including front range first floor exterior walls, ceiling beams, partition walls and crownposts. It also forms part of a group of listed buildings within the Rye Conservation area.

Listing NGR: TQ9200720271

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

434839

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
The Victoria History of the County of: Volume IX, (), 48
Pevsner, N, Nairn, I, The Buildings of England: Sussex, (1965), 598

End of official list entry

All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.