NHER 12008 (Building record) - 40 and 42 King Street

1951. Listed Grade II.

Georgian facade (modernised) hides a medieval timber framed house.
Information from Listing.

1972. Building Survey.
No. 40 examined by Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England (RCHME)
Report (S1) says timber-framed wall visible in side passage, but replaced in rear in brick. Main beam crosses passage and formerly had arch-braces over it. Blocked original door at rear. Another door, mutilated, survives by modern shop front. Date of timber-framed section is 17th or earliest 18th century.
Compiled by E. Rose (NAU). Information from record card (S2).
Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 20 July 2023.

1985. Building Survey.
Nos. 40 and 42 examined by E. James (King's Lynn Museum).
Both derelict. Discovery of crown post roof showing dated pre 1550 and probably medieval. Building subdivided before the late 18th century.
See report (S3) for further information.
E. Rose (NAU), 20 December 1985.

Correspondence and (S4) in file.

Listing (S1) describes this building as a late 14th-century shop, yet it is Listed at Grade II only.
E. Rose (NLA), 11 March 1999.

Listing Description excerpt:
"Shop and house, now offices. Late 14th century, 20th-century shopfront to No.40, early 19th-century brown brick skin to No.42, extensively altered late 20th century. Timber-framed. Pantile roof. No. 40 with double plate-glass shopfront with central door. Rendered first floor with 2 sashes with glazing bars set within flush frames. No. 42 has an arched doorway to right fitted with a late 20th-century door. Shop front to left fills former segmentally-arched carriage entrance to rear which is now incorporated into premises. Two sashes light first floor: glazing bars and gauged skewback arches. Continuous gabled roof with two dormers…0Rear with a two-storey and attic 20th-century cross wing to south in yellow brick and a glass-roofed outshut to north.
INTERIOR. Studwork of 14th-century shop remains. Doorway in No.42 leads into a timber-framed passage terminating in an arched doorway (no door and only its south arched brace survives). Passageway itself arch-braced, but only southern studs remain. Doorway opens right into No.40, one arched brace in situ. One arched brace remains to front jetty and possibly pentice. No.42 was gutted and made into a service access archway 1960's, and converted again to a building in 1987. Two joists remain to first floor. Roof not inspected."
A. Cattermole (King's Lynn UAD), 12 December 2018. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 20 July 2023.