Burford's Buildings, Witney Street

This small early 14th-century house, though heavily remodelled, may be Burford's earliest surviving domestic building, and is documented from the 1390s. A watercolour of 1840 shows that it had a two-centred arched doorway to the street and an adjacent window with ballflower decoration, whose top half was cut off in the 16th or 17th century when a floor was inserted. Part of a medieval column and capital survives just below the eastern (left-hand) apex of the roof, perhaps relating to an earlier roof structure. Fourteenth-century features inside include archways, a chimneypiece, and more ballflower decoration, while the rear wing has a raised cruck truss with arched braces to a collar. A Decorated (14th-century) chimneystack shown on the eastern gable in 1840 belonged to the neighbouring house (No. 14), which has been largely rebuilt. Presumably the stack escaped demolition because the gable was shared with No. 12.