3 High Street

Cadw's description

Location

Opposite the Town Hall.

Exterior

History: Probably C16 in origin: a timber-framed building which was refronted on a new alignment in the early C19. It may have once comprised a single house with No 4, and the present through passage may once have been internal. Extended to the rear in the C19 by a single-unit cottage, and a later warehouse and stable range which were used as club rooms for a time.

Exterior: Main range with short rear wing, possibly at one time forming a separate dwelling, which was subsequently extended with the addition of a further dwelling and the store-house range. Main elevation is lined-out render over brick, with slate roof. Timber framing exposed in side wall to passage. 3 storeys, 2-window range, with inserted shop front to ground floor, 4-pane sashes with steep cambered brick heads above, and 12-pane sashes below eaves. Timber framing exposed in side passage forms 3 panels with heavy chamfered studs below the mid rail, and an ogee arched doorhead towards the rear.

Interior: Staircase with turned balusters and moulded square-section newels in lower flights; splat balusters to attic. The roof shows the clear evidence for the re-construction of the house on a new alignment, and retains the earlier A-framed collar truss.

The building is of special interest primarily for the partial survival of its original high-quality timber framing. Its history of successive reconstruction (including alterations to the street alignment), and of extension infilling the burgage plot are also of considerable interest.