Building record LVM 149 - 85 Church Street

85 Church Street is a timber-framed cottage of the late-15th or early-16th century that originally formed part of the adjacent property to its right (No. 86.). The structure was designed as a jettied and gabled cross-wing of at least two bays, but its gable and rear wing have been removed and its present roof is a reconstruction of the late-17th or 18th century. A late-20th century lean-to now occupies the site of the demolished rear bay. The cross-wing contained the 'under-shot' cross-passage of an adjacent hall, and the chamfered timbers of its blocked front door remain visible to the right of the modern entrance. The ground-floor room probably operated as a service area, although there is no obvious evidence of the usual partition between buttery and pantry. A Chimney stack was inserted into the centre of the cross-passage during the 17th century to convert the room into a heated parlour with a newly fashionable 'lobby' entrance, but this lobby was cloaked by the previous newel stair when the merchant's house was subsequently divided into cottages. Although no. 86 has not been inspected internally it appears to have been built with a chimney against the cross-passage and probably represents a 16th century reconstruction of the medieval open hall that no. 85 was initially designed to adjoin (S1).