Green Door

I find architectural history fascinating.  Looking at old buildings you may see a bricked up door or window, or a line of mortar which suggests there was once something else built against it.  You can see where changes have been made over the years; extensions, new layouts etc. A change in the quality of the external stone or brickwork usually means the poorer quality was never meant to be seen; something has perhaps been demolished.  We had to go to North Walsham this morning and walking from the car park through the churchyard I spotted these buildings.

On the face of it they are interesting but perhaps not remarkable until you realise these are now the rear of shops on the Market Place; the one on the left is a card shop and the green one, a printing and stationery store.  Were they always shops, I wonder?  This side faces onto the churchyard so would probably have been quite a prestigious place to live; were they originally houses facing the church?  In which case, was the other side, although now a shop, just a rear entrance?  I'll have to see if I can find some old maps of the area which might just give a bit of a clue.