74 High Street, Newport

Summary

Late-C18 house, converted to a shop on the ground floor.

Reasons for Designation

74 High Street, Newport, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* as a late-C18 house with good architectural design, converted to a shop, which continues to contribute to the character of an architecturally varied historic streetscape.

Historic interest:

* as part of the historic urban development of Newport.

Group value:

* the building is in close proximity to a large number of listed buildings and forms part of a strong historic grouping.

History

Newport’s first charter was granted by Richard de Redvers, fourth Earl of Devon in the late C12 and this is generally regarded as marking its foundation. The settlement was laid out on the low-lying ground along the western bank of the River Medina using a grid-style plan. Recent topographic analysis suggests that Newport may have developed around an existing informal trading settlement located at the head of Medina estuary, in the vicinity of Sea and Quay Street (Alexander, 2021). The High Street is one of five east-west running streets within the grid layout. High Street and Pyle Street extend the full length of the grid, divided by a market square, and form the planned core of Newport, with other shorter parallel streets to the south (South Street) and north (Lugley and Crocker Street). They were all largely in place by the mid-C13.

In the C14, the Isle of Wight was frequently subject to raids by French forces during long-running conflicts between England and France. According to historical documents, during one of the raids in 1377 Newport was severely damaged by fire and much of the population fled to Carisbrooke Castle. It appears that Newport was functioning again a few years later. During this century, records indicate that the population of Newport did decrease, most likely due to several wider economic factors, and did not significantly increase until the mid-C17. The town was incorporated as a borough in 1608 under a new charter granted by James I. Newport did not significantly expand beyond its medieval limits until around the late C18. By the mid-C19 there had been a more significant expansion of the town, including the development of its suburbs, which continued into the C20.

The plan form of 74 High Street is first shown on the 1864, first edition Ordnance Survey (OS). This shows that at this time this building had a much wider frontage to the High Street, extending further south-west along the course of the High Street. It was separated from the Roman Catholic School (existing) to the west by a narrow lane that led to a rear garden. Later OS maps from the turn of the C20 show this wider building as subdivided into two properties, the easternmost of which corresponds to the existing footprint of 74 High Street. The western part of the building no longer survives. In 1972 the building was described as including a roof dormer with glazing bars; by the early C21 the dormer had been replaced by a skylight.

74 High Street accommodates a retail unit at ground-floor level with premises above.

Details

Late-C18 house, converted to a shop on the ground floor.

MATERIALS: painted stucco under a clay tile roof.

PLAN: rectangular in plan with a narrow front elevation.

EXTERIOR: the building is of two storeys plus an attic and is one bay wide. The ground floor has a C20 shopfront consisting of a glazed door to either side of two glazed windows, over a brick panel in stretcher bond. It is flanked by Doric pilasters with plain bases and fluted faces, which support a frieze and cornice.

At first-floor level there is a centrally placed, oriel window with three faces. The two narrow outer faces consist of two-over-two sashes whilst the front face consists of a single eight-over-eight sash. There are plains strips between the inner and outer sashes whist the window as a whole is framed with thin, fluted Doric pilasters, a block cill, narrow frieze and shallow cornice. The cornice of the bow window is at the same level as a stepped eaves cornice. The roof is steeply-pitched and has a modern skylight.

The west side elevation is gabled and has hung tile to the first floor.

To the rear there appears to be a long and linear, single-storey wing with pitched roof.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

309544

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Websites
Alexander, Magnus, Newport, Isle of Wight, High Street Heritage Action Zone: Topographic Analysis of the Late Medieval Town, Historic England Research Report 49/2021, (November 2021), accessed 31 January 2024 from https://historicengland.org.uk/research/results/reports/49-2021

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