High Street, no. 20

The house and shop, No. 20 High Street at the corner of Worcester Road, is of three storeys of which the uppermost is an addition. The extension at the back may have been built as a separate house. Some timber-framing is exposed towards the yard. Inside the building the staircase has some flat shaped balusters. The building is considered to be early 17th century. An illustration of 1820 shows the building with a hipped roof and two oddly low windows under the eaves. This looks as if it was part of a remodelling or refronting of the late 18th or early 19th century. An engraving of 1733 illustrates this corner house showing two attic gables and a window in each. In more recent times the top storey has been raised to insert larger windows. 

A visit in October 2007 found the following: The tenants of the upper front (i.e. fronting High Street) flat had left and we had the opportunity to examine the flat before the new tenants moved in. The owner told us that when they bought the property they had removed the staircase from the ground floor of number 20 i.e. the shop to the upper floor. The upper floors of 20 High Street and 1 Worcester Road, long used as one property, were converted to flats. Access to all of them is from Worcester Road. The top front flat has a number of exposed beams and a varying floor height. The original staircase from the floor below came up in what is now the corridor outside the kitchen/bedroom/living room doors. The rooms to the east were originally attic roof space. The have inserted ceilings to create rooms, and a new staircase from the entrance. The room in the SW corner has large beams over, N to S, 334cms apart. The S external wall has large post and rail construction. The wall to the W has a sash window, set very low to the ground. The wall between it and the room to the N has a large curved timber. The N wall of the adjoining room, i.e. party wall with number 19, has smaller square timber framing. Immediately to the E of that room is what is now the kitchen, which has a truss rising from the N wall.

Sources: RCHM notes 1930 RCHM Herefordshire II, (1932), no. 21 Duncan James Report for EPE, 2007, pp. 19, 25, 28 Occupants of 20 High Street  Date Occupier Owner Source 2007 Ledbury Books. Mr and Mrs Rippe   1987 Ledbury Books. Mr and Mrs Rippe   1941 Albert Chadd, grocer   Tilley’s 1937 Albert James Chadd, grocer   Kelley’s 1913 Chadd Brothers, grocers   Kelley’s 1910 Miss G. H. Procter Miss G. H. Procter Land Valuation 1901 Grace H. Proctor, grocer   Census 1891 Mary Ann Brown, grocer   Census 1890 William John Brown, grocer, High Street   Jakeman and Carver Directory 1881 Mary Ann Brown, grocer   Census 1871 Mary Ann Brown, grocer   Census 1862 Mary Ann Brown, grocer and tea dealer, Upper Cross   Morris & Co. Directory 1861 Mary Ann Brown   Census 1861 Mary Ann Brown, grocer   Census 1851 Mary Ann Brown, grocer   Census 1841 Richard Brown, grocer   Census 1840 Richard Brown Richard Brown Tithe apportionment 1838 Richard Brown, grocer,   Robson’s Directory 1837 Richard Brown, grocer   Parish register NGR SO 7113 3758