Description

SJ 5441
8/89
1.5.51

WHITCHURCH URBAN C.P.
HIGH STREET (north-east side)
Nos. 21 and 23 (The Old Shop )

GV
II*

House, now shop and café. Late C15, and late C16 or early C17. Timber
framed with plastered infill and rendered plinth. Plain tile roof.
Framing: closely-spaced studs with S-braces; gable with diagonal strutting
and central lozenge. L-plan; c.1600 hall range of 2 framed bays to right
and C15 cross wing to left of 3 framed bays, flush to front. 2 storeys,
with attic to cross wing. Cross wing has jettied first floor with moulded
bressumer, shaped end brackets, the remains of shafting below with moulded
capitals, and soffit with carved interlaced trefoil ornament. Jettied
gable with carved quatrefoil ornament to face of cambered tie-beam, wooden
coving beneath with carved interlaced trefoil ornament, and carved end
brackets. Small leaded casement in attic to left. Two first-floor
C20 three-light wooden casements. Pair of ground-floor small-paned
windows to left flanking small-parted glazed door with 4-part rectangular
overlight. Elaborate and complete late C19 wooden shop-front to right
consisting of 2 plate-glass windows with circular corner shafts, pierced
spandrels, top lights with stained glass including rural scenes,
recessed central pair of glazed doors with billet-type ornament, rounded
tops to lights and carved scrolled pediment, and deep glass fascia
consisting of painted glass over carved wood, with the name "WALKER"
flanked by the street number. Salop fire insurance plate (No. 5704) to
right of first-floor right-hand window. C19 additions in angle at rear.
Interior: deep-chamfered cross-beamed ceiling in right-hand ground-Floor
room with decorative carved stops and chamfered joists with run-out stops.
Pair of ceiling beams in left-hand ground-floor room, one with deep chamfer
and one with small chamfer and ogee stops. Plain and chamfered joists.
Stud partition wall dividing ground-floor rooms, with infill now removed.
First-floor of cross wing formerly a 2-bay solar open to the roof,
incorporating central truss with arched bracing and cambered tie-beam
with remains of carved boss, and chamfered wind braces to the north-west.
Rear bay probably added in the C17. Hall range has collar and tie-beam
trusses with queen struts. In the attic there are a series of coops,
probably formerly for the rearing and keeping of birds for cock fighting
(not inspected at time of survey - November 1986). One possible
explanation of the plan is that the present hall range replaced a former
open hall at the same time the cross wing was extended to the rear. Old
photographs show the building with a late C18 or early C19 shop-front to
No. 21, a porter-rest in front of No. 23, leaded windows, a gabled
dormer, and a stack to right. The present shop-front to No. 21 is a
particularly fine and complete example of its type. R.B. James,
Whitchurch - A Short History, p. 5; Whitchurch Area Archaeological Group,
Whitchurch Remembered (1980), ill. 19; County S.M.R. No. 12 580.

Listing NGR: SJ5416041576

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17541715

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

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  Department for Communities Listed Historic Buildings of Northern Ireland: Information Guide for the 2nd Survey of Historic Buildings
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