Building record 1097100000 - 3 HIGH STREET

Grade II. House. Late C16-C17, renovated. Timber frame with diagonal braces and brick infill, some herringbone. Rubble stone plinth. Left gable rebuilt in brick around stone chimney stack. Corrugated iron over thatch roof, flanking brick chimneys rebuilt C20, L-plan, 1½ storeys, 2 bays. C20 barred wooden casements, 3-light to ground floor left, 4-light to right, 2-light in roof; C20 door to left in rebuilt brick walling. Similar wing to rear with C20 lean-to extension in rear angle, outbuilding attached to far gable of rear wing (B1).
Historic building recording by KDK Archaeology between September 2023 and May 2024 during rethatching and reroofing works, established that the thatched roof was covered with tin sheeting in c.1940, possibly when the adjoining cottage was demolished. Some rafters had been replaced before then, but most were simple, waney edged timbers or whole branches. No carpenter’s assembly marks or other details of interest were observed on the timberwork of the roof. The existing thatch was of varing thicknesses, ranging from a bare patch on the rear range, to up to 30cm thick at the ridge on the front range. Although the straw was in poor condition, many of the fixings, including hazel hooks and spars, ties and iron thatching hooks had survived. The building had previously operated as a pie-shop/bakery, a post office in the late 19th/early 20th century, later a coffin-maker's workshop, and a butcher’s shop in the 1930s. See report for detail (B2).