Description

LAUNCESTON

SX3384 HIGH STREET
660-1/4/72 (South East side)
27/02/50 Nos.11, 13 AND 13A

GV II*

Includes: No.12 BROAD STREET.
Two merchants' houses. No.13 of 1555 for Thomas Hicks
(inscribed T H on label stops), other house of similar date.
Painted slatehanging on jettied timber-frame between stone
side walls with incised stucco, with triple-moulded corbels.
No.11 (left) with front roof parallel to street, probably
originally a pair of gables. No.13 gable end on to street and
with 1st floor underbuilt in the C18; dry slate roofs; hipped
returns to No.11; rubble lateral stacks (rear of No.11 and on
left of No.13).
Plan: No.13 has cross passage on right leading to
semi-circular-on-plan newel stair projection and projecting
rear wing on left; No.13 is 1-room plan later subdivided to
upper floors.
3 storeys over basement to No.11; 2 storeys and attic; overall
3-window range. No.11 is 2-window range with original or C17
four-light mullioned windows to 2nd floor with mid/late C18
casements with thick glazing bars to second floor, except for
blocked light on right; 1st floor with original or C17 oriel
windows with moulded sills on shaped brackets, intermediate
mullions removed and early/mid C18 pairs of horizontal-sliding
sashes with very thick glazing bars and return lights.
Ground floor has late C19 three-light shop front on the left
and early C20 projecting 3-light shop front with glazing bars
except where removed to central light; older granite
stall-risers with squat basement windows; original moulded oak
doorframe on right with original 15-panel studded door. Window
to 2nd floor of right-hand return mostly blocked. Old down
pipe echoes shape of jetties.
Rear is slatehanging on timber-frame and has at least 2
windows with leaded lights and many C18 windows with very
thick glazing bars at least 2 of which are horizontal sliding
sashes, one to wing with return light and all within remains
of C17 of original frames.
No.13 has 1-window front set back from other front. Early/mid
C18 paired sashes with very thick glazing bars to upper
floors; splay towards corner to 1st floor on right. Ground
floor has late C19-light shop window with doorway on right
plus splayed light to far right, the whole shop front angled
so that it projects on the left moulded fascia curves in on
right and fits under jetty; slender turned mullions with
curved bases and caps; scribed pilaster on left.
Right-hand return has 4-light shop front with similar detail,
right-hand light in former doorway. 1st floor has original
moulded granite jambs and lintel with hoodmould and inscribed
stops linked to granite string, with pair of C18 sashes like
those to front; 2nd floor with pair of late C19 four-pane
horned sashes over possibly original granite sill.
INTERIOR of both houses retain many original or C17 features
including: ovolo-moulded door frames, with unusual stops to
several openings; one C17 door with ovolo moulding; winder
stair with C18 elliptically-arched doorways with C17 caryatids
to ground and 1st floors, carved newel post and ovolo-moulded
frame to 2nd floor; very wide elm floorboards where visible
and roof structure where inspected (central bay of front) has
oak trusses with lap-dovetail collar joints and original
trenched purlins.
C18 features include moulded ceiling cornice to cross passage
and many 2-panel doors. Most fireplaces hidden: large
fireplace to ground floor of rear wing has C19 shelf and
shaped hanging brackets over. Basement not inspected. C18
frames of doorways between houses suggests the linking of the
2 properties at that time.
These houses are visibly the most interesting of the earlier
houses within the town centre of Launceston and both
externally and internally have survived little altered since
the C17 and not altered since the C19.
HISTORY: Thomas Hicks was Mayor of the town in the C16 at the
time of the Reformation.
(Robbins AF: Launceston, Past and Present: Launceston: 1888-:
81, 86.; Wills A).

Listing NGR: SX3316984594

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17532877

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

• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)
• 
  Hampshire: Winchester and the North (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 4: North: North v. 4 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cambridgeshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)