IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Tilehouse Street, HITCHIN, SG5 2DW

Once a through road, Tilehouse Street is now blocked by the 1980s built Park Way bypass. Given its unpoilt nature, it is no surprise to find that the Tilehouse Street area contains some 40 Grade II listed buildings.

The majority of properties along Tilehouse Street are either Georgian (mostly red brick) or earlier (and timber framed). In this shot, the opening beyond the redbrick cottages gives access to the Priory

The plaque shown in Image is to be found through the archway seen at the left of this view.

On the corner of Sun Street and Bridge Street and built in 1780, this was the home of several members of the Lucas brewing family who called it "The Brewhouse". The brewery itself was on the right of the house, but was closed in the early twenties. Crown House, a government tax office, was built on the site of the brewery in the 1960's. This in turn was closed and the boarded site was awaiting redevelopment as apartments in this 2006 view.

The Kings Arms Pub in Bucklersbury, Hitchin.

This is situated in the grounds of Hitchin Priory, currently a conference centre.

The last Hitchin public hanging said to have taken place in the yard of the pub. Other sources report that the hanging was of a highwayman in 1868. Greene King closed the pub in 2017 but it subsequently reopened as the Kite at the Red Hart.

By no means the oldest street in Hitchin, but Sun Street has some of the grandest Georgian buildings. They include (in the foreground) the hotel which gives the street its name, and beyond it (with the pediment) the Conservative Club. Further along there are timber-framed houses from earlier centuries - and then you reach Tilehouse Street and Bridge Street, where a remarkable number of early timber-framed houses survive.

The house was the office of the Hitchin Lucas Brewery and the home of the Quaker family for over 200 years. Brewing was carried out in adjacent buildings. The brewery closed in the early 20th century and thereafter became the premises of Philpotts, a high class furnisher. Philpotts closed in 2012 and, at the time of the photo, the building was being converted into a Turkish restaurant with the upper storey becoming a children's play centre. Just part of the building is grade II listed. That is the main staircase which was moved from a central location to the side of the building many years ago.

The priory is now a conference centre, this building being bedrooms.