In the late 18th century a series of buildings existed on the east side of the cart-entry which included nos.11 and 12 followed by several cottages (on the site of the Zion Chapel), and ‘Poole’s House’ (on the site of the carpark). On the west side however, the space between these buildings and Nelson House was still an open yard containing a barn and blacksmiths shop at the rear, with an entrance gate on the site of the cart-entry. The present buildings, nos.13 and 14, were built along the front of the yard in the early 1800s, to which were added a short row of houses at the rear in the late 1830s known as Newman’s Buildings. The ‘bridge’ over the cart-entry was built later, between 1852 and 1884. Initially they seem to have been dwellings, but no.14 served as a shoemakers’ shop between 1876 and 1920 (the old shop window still remains), and from the 1890s no.13 has been successively a fishmongers and fried fish bar, a butchers shop (from 1930 to 1967) and more recently a taxi hire office and a fish tackle shop, before converting back to a private dwelling.

On the east side, the cottages were demolished in 1853 to make way for the Zion Methodist Chapel, and it is also about this time that the adjoining premises, nos.11 and 12, acquired the title ‘Providence Buildings’ or ‘Providence House’ which they retained up to the end of the 19th century. From 1858 they appear together as a drapers shop run by a William Newman, which also served as the village Post Office. Although the Post Office moved to no.1 Mill Lane in about 1891, the shop remained a draper’s up to the 1980s. The classical shop window of no.12, now a hairdressing salon, is particularly fine and would appear to be of mid 19th century date. Number 11 became detached in 1951 and has since served a variety of purposes, such as a chemist’s shop, hairdressers, TV repairs, launderette, and currently, an insurance office.

The eastern end of the High Street in the early 1900s. Nelson House is on the left, followed by Providence Buildings. On the right is the baker’s shop at the entrance to Waterloo Buildings, in front of the ‘Templar Restaurant’. Note the old garden wall projecting out onto the street, far right.

In about 1800, John Pool demolished the house at the far eastern end and replaced it with a row of cottages leading away from the High Street known as Poole’s Buildings. A narrow alleyway from the Street separated these buildings from their gardens on the east side. By the mid 1850s the end cottage which abutted onto the street (no.1 Poole’s Buildings, later no.10 High Street) was refronted with a false parapet and converted to a draper’s shop. In 1903 it became a chemist’s, but five years later returned to use as a dwelling. In January 1941 these houses received a direct hit from a wartime bomb, killing four of the occupants. The whole site was subsequently levelled and ever since has served as a private parking area for the chapel. The west wall of the buildings still stands however, complete with remnants of old fireplaces. The chapel, which survived the blast, reopened in 1948 with its stained glass window restored, but minus its front railings.

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