Description

TQ 67 41 BRENCHLEY HIGH STREET, BRENCHLEY (south side) 15/134 Bournes shop and house adjoining at the west (formerly 20.10.54 listed as Central Stores) GV II

Shop and adjoining house, forming one range with the Rose and Crown Public house (q.v.). Probably C17 in origin, altered in the C19. Framed construction, the front elevation painted white, brick on the ground floor, the first floor tile-hung; peg-tile roof; brick stacks.

Plan: The house faces north, directly on to the High Street. The present arrangement consists of a shop at the left (east) end, house to the right. The entrance to the house is into a cross passage, with one room beyond the passage to the right (west) with a right end stack shared with the Rose and Crown. Various rear additions of different dates. The early core is a single depth framed building, a narrow bay at the left end suggesting a smoke bay. Variations in the floor level and a substantial framed crosswall immediately Variations of the cross passage suggest that this may mark the end of the original house. The crosswalls have all been altered in the C19. One in the shop has been removed and the left hand (east) wall of the passage is C19.

Exterior: 2 storeys and attic. Roof gabled at left end, left end stack. Asymmetrical 4-window front. Circa mid C19 shop front at the left with projecting left and right bays glazed with 8-pane fixed windows with 2 panes to the outer and inner returns. Fascia board and moulded cornice above the shop windows. C19 half-glazed shop door with a rectangular overlight. The front door to the house, approximately in the centre, is C19, the upper panels fielded with a rectangular overlight and a flat porch hood on moulded brackets. Early C19 canted bay window to ground floor right with a flat roof, 16-pane sash to the centre, 8-pane sashes to the returns. The first floor windows are well-preserved C18 2- and 3-light iron-framed casements, glazed with square leaded panes, retaining particularly attractive window furniture with handmade internal scrolled catches including one external quadrant catch. 2 attic dormers with hipped roofs, glazed with 2-light casements with square leaded panes.

Interior: Irregular floor levels to the rear where the ground drops away to the south. Carpentry on the ground floor is partly boxed in but includes chamfered crossbeams. The shop ceiling is supported on a C19 column where an earlier crosswall has been removed. The wall-framing of the main range preserves jowled wallposts. Other interior features are largely C19, including doors, an iron grate on the first floor. Late C19/early C20 stick baluster stair.

Roof: Clasped purlin construction, probably C18 or later. No access to the apex at time of survey (1989) but sooted rafters may survive in the putative smoke bay at the left end.

In a crucial position in the High Street in Brenchley with a very attractive exterior and a good C19 shop front.

Listing NGR: TQ6788041798

External Links

• Wikidata Q26542144

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