Building record 1842/13/1 - Nos.71 to 77 High Street (odd)

Golden Key Inn until the early 19th century, now house and 2 shops. Mid C18 and C19. Squared coursed limestone with stucco façade. Pantile roof at rear and concrete tile roof at front. Originally 4-unit plan

{1} Public House, High Street. Building possibly shown on map as public house. An old stone building which has subsequently been re-faced, now divided into two and used as 'Motastore and Cycle Centre' and a boarded up shop frontage 'Cotton'. Has a number of outbuildings of stone and brick to the rear. Film ? Photo 22.

{2} Inn, now house and 2 shops. Mid C18 and C19. Squared coursed limestone with stucco façade. Pantile roof at rear and concrete tile roof at front. Originally 4-unit plan. 2 storeys. 9-window range of irregularly spaced unhorned sash windows, with glazing bars, under plain stucco heads and keyblocks. Four-panel part-glazed door to right of centre under similar head has later C19 shop front to right. C20 shop front to far left. Ashlar gable parapets and kneelers and brick stacks at centre ridge and nds. Rear elevation has C19 additions and C19 and C20 windows. Interior: centre room has open fireplace with bressumer. Formerly the Golden Key Inn until early C19.

{3} Inn, built mid 18th century and 19th century. Was the Golden Key Inn until the early 19th century. Originally 4-unit plan. 2 storeys. 9-window range of irregularly spaced unhorned sash windows.Now house and 2 shops.
Former 18th century inn finished in early 19th century. Rear elevation has 19th century additions. Now house and 2 shops. One has late 19th century shop frontage surviving, the other survives as a 20th century shop front.

{4} Recording has shown the steady subdivision of an original frontage which probably served as an inn, variously named the Golden Key or the Ship. Subdivision to form two, then three properties took place in the later 19th century, while a cottage was built to the rear before 1886, together with unrelated factory buildings before 1901.

Almost nothing survives of the original supposed inn except the plan and principal structure of the main frontage (including roof) and the earliest of the rear extensions. The possible stair sandwiched between the first floor bedroom of No.73 and the second floor attic of No.75 may be a vestige of this original single-purpose property. A possible filled-in cellar may lie beneath No.71.
More survives of the property following its division into two in the C19th.
The ground floors of Nos.71 and 75 were turned into shops no later than about 1900, and from this time there were three entrances serving three addresses, with three distinct uses on the ground floor. The upper storeys however still resolved themselves into two distinct living areas.
The factory buildings, although they adjoin the rear of No.75, hardly relate to the property either in structural form or intended use. They are a total divergence in character and purpose from the rest of the property.
The interiors contain only sparse early fittings and then most of these are of late 19th or early 20th century date. The structure contains evidence of numerous alterations and retains vestiges of earlier decorative schemes. It lies in close proximity to the parish churchyard and on the High Street.
This prime location might suggest that buried archaeological remains may lie beneath the the frontage (except where possibly cellared) and the rear yard, related to an earlier, possibly medieval range of buildings.

{5} Undated photo;

<1> Ballinger J., 1999, Northamptonshire Extensive Urban Survey: Industrial Period, (unchecked) (Digital archive). SNN4.

<2> Clews Architects, 1980s, Database for Listing of Historic Buildings of Special Architectural Interest: Northamptonshire, 16/167 (Digital archive). SNN102353.

<3> List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest ("Greenback"), G08 p.79 (unchecked) (Catalogue). SNN41470.

<4> Soden I., 2009, Archaeological Buildings Assessment of 71-75 High Street, Thrapston, Northamptonshire, June 2009, p.2-18 (part checked) (Report). SNN107970.

<5> Photographs of buildings in Thrapston (Photographs). SNN113630.

Record last edited

Mar 25 2025 10:57AM