The Square

The Square comprises a pair of houses, formerly The George Inn, dating from the mid-18th century and later, incorporating earlier fabric. The buildings are constructed of rubble with tooled-and-margined dressings, with a squared stone porch and a C20 hardrow tile roof. They have an L-shaped layout, with an extruded, canted porch set into the angle.

No. 1, which faces east, is two storeys with a basement and has three bays. There are six steps leading to a central fielded-panel double door within a surround featuring Doric pilasters and a pediment. A renewed 12-pane sash window sits above the door, with older 12-pane sashes in the right bay. The left bay, partially obscured by the porch, reveals a blocked stone-surround window on the first floor. The roof is hipped to the right, with a banded ridge stack. The right return displays a slab plinth, an impost band, and a round-arched recess containing a 12-pane sash window, with a similar first-floor window.

The porch, which was formerly a post office, features a renewed glazed door with a radial fanlight within a round arch with imposts. A 12-pane sash window with a flat-arched lintel sits on the first floor, above a semi-pyramidal roof.

No. 2, facing north, is three storeys with a three-bay section adjoined by a further three bays. The right section has a central six-panel door with a three-pane overlight in an architrave, as well as 12-pane sash windows. The left section, set slightly forward, was formerly a coach house, featuring an impost band above a round-arched arcade holding boarded double doors, with 6-pane sashes to the upper floors. The roof is hipped to the left, with two banded ridge stacks.

The rear of No. 1 has six irregular bays. Upper floors feature 12-pane sashes, while the basement has five 12-pane and one 4-pane Yorkshire sashes. Irregular quoining of an older building is visible near the right end. The rear of No. 2 shows various 6- and 12-pane sashes. All windows are set within stone surrounds.

The interior of No. 1 contains a dog-leg closed-string staircase with column-on-vase balusters, moulded newels, and a ramped moulded handrail. There are 18th-century fireplaces in the basement, alongside a 19th-century dumb waiter. An internal cross wall, measuring 1.2 metres in thickness, aligns with the quoining visible on the rear elevation.

A historical note indicates that Charles Dickens may have stayed at The George Inn in 1838 while writing 'Nicholas Nickleby', and the inn is referenced in the story. A late 20th-century sun-lounge extension at the south end of No. 1 is not considered to be of interest.