55, 57 AND 59, HIGH STREET

Details

BROMYARD AND WINSLOW

815/1/10021 HIGH STREET 10-MAR-05 Bromyard (Southwest side) 55, 57 AND 59

II

Three houses with shops, originally one hall house, comprising 3 ground floor shops fronting High Street and a return to Cruxwell Street. (The return is in the ownership of 59 High Street and does not have a separate number.) C15 with early C19 and C20 additions and alterations. Of whitewashed brick with slate roof and brick end stacks. Fronting High Street is a 5-window range of 12-pane sashes with segmental-arched heads; the slightly uneven spacing and larger than usual gap between window heads and eaves are a slight indication of the earlier origin. The Cruxwell Street elevation has a 2-window range of irregularly spaced segmental-arched windows, one with small panes There is a slight offset between the two bays, the right also retaining a brick eaves course, though the roof line is continuous and may well be the original solar wing. The former open hall occupies roughly the central section of the High Street frontage, with former floored extension to left and solar at corner right. Although shops now occupy the ground floor, the space between the end of the former open hall wall and what is now the corner shop may indicate a former cross-passage. Number 57 retains a late C19/early C20 double-fronted shop-front with inset glazed door and slender mullions. INTERIOR: In number 57 a truss from the hall survives in the attic, the upper faces of the collar and principal rafters chamfered and cusped to form a trefoil. Woolhope report notes "It is of unusual construction, the rear half being a cruck blade whilst the front section consists of a post with the principal rafter jointed to it." These timbers are smoke-blackened showing the structure was formerly open to roof. Two cusped wind-braces remain in situ and mortices for others are visible. On either side of the truss is a section of moulded wallplate; also visible is decorative moulding of the structural timbers some 3.6m above ground level. On the present first floor structural timber-framing and the lower sections of the truss are visible. In number 59 two roof trusses over the former solar wing are reported to survive, one having a braced collar similar to that in the hall and the other cusped raking braces from the tie beam to the principal rafters. Remnants of wallplate are reported to survive on the Cruxwell St side. The present roof structure reportedly contains re-used timber, very likely from the earlier roof. Number 55 corresponds with the floored extension to hall identified in the Woolhope report. Present first floor retains timber-framing to walls, mostly with wattle and daub infill, the first floor ceiling with shaped main joists and chamfered and stopped beams. HISTORY: Investigative work by the Woolhope Club revealed evidence of a former hall c 6.4m x 5m open to the roof with a floored extension to SE and a cross wing incorporating solar to NW, possibly over service rooms, buttery, pantry etc. Mouldings suggest a C15 date and structural analysis indicates that the solar originally had a gable to High Street. Floor and ceilings were inserted in the C17. In the early C19 the frontage was rebuilt in brick and the stone roof tiles replaced with slate to form a continuous range spanning the corner of High Street and Cruxwell Street.

SOURCE: Transactions of the Woolhope Club, Vol. XLVI, 1988. SO6535854734

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

492784

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Transactions of the Woolhope Club, ()

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