Summary

C18 house with shop, altered and extended in the C19 and C20.

Description

C18 house with shop, altered and extended in the C19 and C20.

MATERIALS: red brick, with a gabled, tiled roof. Historic rear wing and C20 extensions to the rear are in brick (apparently reclaimed in the recent additions) with modern composite tiles.

PLAN: the building has a principal, rectangular range fronting Castle Street to the north with projecting extensions to the rear (south).

EXTERIOR: the principal (north) elevation has a C21 shopfront at ground floor level. On the left, a curved pane rounds the corner to the east, and two slender glazing bars divide three large glass panes. A simple reeded timber pilaster divides the eastern shopfront from a second shopfront in the right hand or western half of the façade. This western shopfront has two large glass panes to left and right, with a central recessed door. At each corner is a slender glazing bar. The floor of the entrance is C19 terrazzo. The entrance door is panelled in its lower third, and has a simple timber pediment above, with a glass pane over. Below the glazing on both shopfronts are panels of glazed bricks which have been overpainted. A dentilled cornice runs the width of the façade above the shopfront signboard.

At first-floor level are three evenly spaced windows, all two-over-two C19 sashes. The left and right-hand windows have straight joints in the brickwork on either side. Above each of the windows is a flat arch of gauged bricks with a double keystone covered in stucco. At second-floor level are three further windows, again two-over-two C19 sashes. A stucco band topped with a moulded cornice runs the width of the façade above these windows, incorporating stucco lintels with central keystones. As on the second floor, straight joints run on either side of the left and right-hand windows.

The west elevation has been rendered. The apex of the roof has a tall corbelled brick chimney stack. The party wall of the demolished adjoining building can still be seen. On the east elevation the apex of the roof also has a corbelled brick chimney stack. The cornice continues on this elevation. At the top of the shopfront, the dentilled cornice and signboard continue from the front elevation. To the rear of the building, a two-storey late-C20 extension in red brick extends back two bays. The windows, two at ground floor and two at first floor, are replicas of historic windows with gauged brick flat arches. To the south of this extension and set back to the west, one bay of the historic rear wing is visible. This features an entrance door at ground level and a C20 casement window at first floor level, with four lights. Both the entrance door and upper window have flat arches of angled rubbed brick headers. There is extensive evidence of patching and replacing of the brickwork at ground floor level. Further to the south and set back further to the west, a small gabled extension dating to the late-C20 remodelling and approximately 1.5 storeys high contains an entrance door at ground-floor level with a flat arch with angled headers.

The rear (south) of the building consists of the historic rear wing to the west (left), heavily altered in 1989. This historic wing is two storeys high and has a gabled roof covered with composite tiles, with a brick chimney stack at the apex of the roof. To the south of this wing is a 1.5 storey extension from the late-C20, with a pitched roof. To the east, and terminating further to the north, is a two-storey late-C20 extension with a gabled roof. It has a small entrance door at ground floor level with a flat arch with angled headers.

History

The historic core of Hinckley centres around The Borough and its connecting streets, with St Mary’s Church to the south east. A settlement existed in Hinckley during Roman times, but the origins of today's town are a Saxon village called Hinca's Leah. In the C12 a priory and a Norman motte-and-bailey castle were built in the village, and by the C13 it had grown into a small market town, centred around The Borough, with Stockwell Head and Castle Street stretching to the east and Coventry Street or Duck Paddle Street (now Regent Street) to the south west. In 1640 the first stocking frame was brought to Hinckley, marking the beginning of the stocking weaving industry which was to dominate the town for over two hundred years. Hinckley prospered on the success of this industry, and many of the surviving buildings of the historic core date to the rebuilding and modernising of the town centre carried out in the C17 and C18. The arrival of the South Leicestershire Railway in 1862 allowed the stocking industry to expand with steam-powered frames and large factories, and the corresponding prosperity allowed the town to expand significantly beyond its historic core. The wider town is now characterised by the C19 houses and civic architecture erected during this time of expansion.

The 1818 tithe allocation map of Hinckley shows a building of the same form on the site of 53-55 Castle Street. Its broad footprint, a rectangular block facing the street with a wing extending to the rear on the left side, remained the same until the late-C20. Numbers 53-55 have many characteristics of a building of the C18, but according to the Historic Environment Record (HER) it may have ‘some indications of encased timber framing’. The building was remodelled in the late-C19 including the insertion of a shop front to the ground floor, and internal alterations including a wall-mounted safe and hanging poles were added. Elements of the C19 shopfront, including fine full height moulded glazing bars, tiles below the windows (now painted), and a curved glass pane to the north-east corner, have survived. Despite these changes, a survey of 2005-10 included many possible C18 features including doors and beams (HER).

In the late-C20 the rear of the house was extended and altered. In 2004, the ground floor shop was divided into two and the upper floors were converted into flats. The ground floor shop has since been turned into one premises again.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26475186

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.

Recommended Books

• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
• 
  Hampshire: South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects, Supplement 2014
• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide