41 AND 43, HIGH STREET

Details

BROMYARD

815/1/203 HIGH STREET 25-OCT-51 BROMYARD 41 AND 43 (Formerly listed as: HIGH STREET BROMYARD 38 AND 39) (Formerly listed as: HIGH STREET BROMYARD 38)

GV II An early C17 two-storey dwelling, perhaps with a commercial function, which has been built upon to provide a third storey. It is now divided into two, with shops to the ground floor.

MATERIALS: It is a timber framed building with lath and plaster infill, and stucco to the first and second floors. It has a slate roof with two brick chimney stacks.

PLAN: Nos. 41-43 High Street are orientated north-east - south-west, parallel with the road. It has two bays and is extended to the rear. The right-hand bay is narrower than the left.

EXTERIOR: The ground floor of the principal façade has canted bay windows to either side with front doors in the centre. The right has three plate-glass windows; the left has glazing bars and twelve lights, and a slim fascia above. The front doors are both half glazed, the left with plate glass and the right with glazing bars and nine lights. Both have plain, rectangular over-lights. On the jettied first floor are canted oriel windows with inserted eight-over-eight sashes. Four brackets of the timber frame supporting the jettied second floor are visible, protruding from the stucco. The second floor has a four-over-four sash to either side, the tops of which meet the soffit of the eaves.

INTERIOR: The interior was not inspected for the purposes of this assessment, but has been informed by the Insight Historic Buildings Research report (2009). The ground floor of No. 41 has an axial ceiling beam with chamfered and stopped joists running from the front to the back of the building; evidence suggests a partition and doorpost have been removed. A steep winding stair has been inserted in the south corner. A doorway has been inserted into what was the back wall, opposite the front door. The girding beam has three mortices for a four-light mullion window, since removed. There is a later, two-storey extension to the rear. The first floor also has exposed timber framing and chamfered ceiling beams with run-out stops. There is a C17 carved stone fireplace, it has fluted jambs and fleur-de-lis detailing, and a decorative cast-iron grate. The head of a jowl post and cross beam is visible on the first-floor corridor. On the second floor there is no visible timber framing, and there is a small cast-iron fireplace. In No. 43 little of the timber frame is visible on the ground floor, but where visible has similar chamfering and stopping as No. 41; it also has mortices indicating mullioned windows on the primary rear wall. There is a single-storey extension to the rear. On the first floor the timber frame is exposed and shows evidence of rearrangement. The jowl post visible in No. 41 is also visible in No. 43, and has C17 decorative carving. There is a blocked doorway at first-floor level, separating No. 41 from No. 43. In the roof space of No. 43 both lath and plaster, and a weathered pendant are visible on the adjacent building, The King's Arms.

HISTORY: Bromyard is a small market town that was first recorded in circa 840. Nos. 41-43 High Street is situated on one of the principal thoroughfares in the town which was known as Novus Vicus in the late C13 and recorded as Newe Streate in 1575. The street appears to have been fully built up by the early C17, though some of the plots have been re-developed since that time.

Nos. 41-43 High Street was originally a two-bay, two-storey building to which another storey was added shortly after the first phase. One bay is slimmer than the other and may have had a commercial function and shop front. The Royal Commission on the Historic Monuments of England surveyed the building in the 1930 and reported that it had recently had a fire. As a result some roof timbers were replaced and the thatch covering was replaced by slate. At this time the roof was heightened slightly to meet the ridge line of its neighbours. There are late-C19 extensions to the rear.

SOURCES Dalwood H and Bryant V, An Archaeological Assessment of Bromyard - The Central Marches Historic Towns Survey 1992-6 (2005) - http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/projArch/EUS/marches_eus_2005/downloads.cfm?county=herefordshire&area=bromyard&CFID=1543698&CFTOKEN=53188440 - Accessed on 18 August 2010 James D, Insight Historic Buildings Research, An Analysis of the Historic Fabric of Fifty Buildings in the Central Area of Bromyard, Herefordshire (2009)

REASON FOR DESIGNATION: Nos. 41-43 High Street (formerly Nos. 38 and 39), an early-C17 timber-framed urban vernacular building, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

* Architectural interest: an attractive vernacular building with modest-C19 shop fronts and stuccoed jettied facade * Earliness of date: it is a substantially intact and well-preserved building dating from the early C17 * Craftsmanship: decorative carving on the central jowl post and good detailing to the timber framing * Intactness: it retains its structural timber frame and its development is legible in the structure * Group value: Nos. 41-43 form a cogent group with listed buildings Nos. 37-39 High Street, and the King's Arms, to which it is physically attached, as well as the other listed buildings in the High Street

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

151030

Legacy System:

LBS

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