TR 35 NW 161

Description from record TR 35 NW 70:
5275. 27 Strand Street, (South Side) Sandwich. TR 3358 1/37A. 19 5 50. Grade 2*. Timber framed building presenting gable to the street. Now restored by means of oak boards tacked on and tyrolean plaster finished. Timbers no creosoted. A date on a small section of plaster which appears to have been saved during alterations bears the date 1526. Modern shop front, but one original early C19 glazed door and one modern. Casement windows 1st floor and 2nd floor with glazing bars. Tiled roof. The rear of the building contains a stone ribbed and vaulted crypt in 2 bays, probably late C13 or early C14. Nos 25 to 31 (odd with Nos 8 to 12 (even) Potters Street from a group. (1) No 27 Strand Street, was in 1970, an antique shop, and the crypt is atthe rear of the shop. Nothing is known about the origin of the building, but it stands on the old line of quayside buildings. Only the vaulted undercroft remains of the original 13th century hall-and-cellar building, and this is approached through a fine stone doorway at the rear of the shop. The shopfront of no.27 is modern, but the rooms above it are apparently timber framed, with a plaster fronted gable facing the street, having on it a small carved date, 1526, the earliest known of many dated buildings in Sandwich. The stone doorway of the crypt has a pointed arch, being chamfered on the outside, and rebated for a door inside. Here the two massive hinges survive in situ, the hinge pins being one inch in diameter. The doorway measures 6 ft 6 ins '1.97m' from the ground to the point of the arch, and 4 ft wide '1.21m'. This width would seem to indicate that it was originally designed as the entrance to a store or shop, which before 1300 was often in the basement of the owner's house. Thecrypt is of two bays, measuring inside 29 ft 6 ins '8.95m' by 13 ft 7 ins '4.10m'. Each of the two bays has diagonal cross ribs, all ribs being hollow chamfered. One of the ribs was damaged in recent years by a plumber installing central heating above, and the pillar supporting the first bay had to be inserted. At the rear of the cellar, short ladder steps lead up to an outer door, the doorway here,and the wall are of later brickwork. There is no sign of any stairwayleading to the original hall above, and it must be assumed that this was approached by an external stairs, as was usual in such buildings. (2)

The following text is from the original listed building designation:
1. 5275 STRAND STREET (South Side)
No 27 TR 3358 1/37A 19.5.50.
II* GV
2. Timber framed building presenting gable to the street. Now restored by means of oak boards tacked on and tyrolean plaster finished. Timbers no creosoted. A date on a small section of plaster which appears to have been saved during alterations bears the date 1526. Modern shop front, but one original early C19 glazed door and one modern. Casement windows 1st floor and 2nd floor with glazing bars. Tiled roof. The rear of the building contains a stone ribbed and vaulted crypt in 2 bays , probably late C13 or early C14.
Nos 25 to 31 (odd) with Nos 8 to 12 (even) Potters Street form a group.
Listing NGR: TR3308358272 (3)

Historic England archive material: BF039752 THE CRYPT, SANDWICH

<1> DOE(HHR) Dist of Dover Kent 1976 127 (OS Card Reference). SKE40949.

<2> Typescript notes, unpublished (E W Parkin) (OS Card Reference). SKE50693.

<3> English Heritage, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest (Map). SKE16160.