Building record 727/0/66 - No.183 Watling Street West

Service cottage to 185 Watling Street. Constructed of brick, under the same roof as No 185.

{1} Attached service cottage is linked to the house to its right. 2-storey, 2-window range.

{2} House and attached cottage. Mid C18 with early C19 alterations. Painted brick, C20 tile roofs, brick ridge and end stacks. 3-unit plan. 2 storey, 4-window range. 5-panel door to right of centre with ornamental overlight flanked by pairs of Tuscan pilasters supporting entablature with triglyph frieze. Tripartite horned sash windows to ground floor left and right with moulded stone surrounds and keyblocks. 4-panel double-leaf door to far left with overlight and rendered surround with blocked lintel. C19 horned plate glass sash windows to first floor with moulded stone surrounds. Plinth, storey band and moulded cornice. Service cottage to left, of painted brick under same roof, a 2-storey, 2-window range, has 5-panel door to right approached by 3 stone steps with overlight and rendered surround with keyblock. C19 horned sash windows to ground and first floors with segmental brick heads. Plinth and dentilled brick eaves. Interior: house has chequered stone-paved staircase hall, open-well staircase with stick balusters, carved tread ends and ramped handrail. 6-panel doors in reeded surrounds. Two early C19 reeded marble chimneypieces and brick-lined cellar.

{3} The replacement of the ground floor of 183 Watling Street in 2009 revealed that components of a timber-framed building had been re-used as floor joists. These included a corner post, the sill or head of a four or five light window and mid rails with mortises. Some of timbers retained fragments of early paintwork. It proved impossible to fit all these elements within the known design of the timber-frame of No. 183. As both 183 & 185 Watling Street were in the same ownership, under the same leasehold and probably refaced at approximately the same time, it is possible that some of these timbers may have come from the Angel Inn. The best of these timbers were saved and now form part of the collection of Towcester Museum

{4} Undated photo;

Giggins B., 2010, Historic Building Assessment: 185 Watling Street, Towcester (Note). SNN111383.

<1> List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest ("Greenback"), F08 p.87 (unchecked) (Catalogue). SNN45262.

<2> Clews Architects, 1980s, Database for Listing of Historic Buildings of Special Architectural Interest: Northamptonshire, 13/192 (Digital archive). SNN102353.

<4> Photographs of buildings in Towcester (Photographs). SNN114425.

Record last edited

Jan 4 2023 2:15PM