25, 27, 29 AND 31, MARKET PLACE

This is a house, likely dating to the late 18th or early 19th century, which originally included a staircase from the late 17th century. It is now used as shops and offices. The building is constructed of brick in Flemish bond, with stone dressings and a slate roof with red ridge tiles. It has a double-pile plan and gable chimney stacks. The house has five storeys and five bays. The first-floor windows are sash windows with glazing bars, stone sills, and splayed stone heads. The second-floor windows are similar but smaller, set under a stone cornice. The ground floor has been altered for shop and office use, but the fourth bay retains a doorcase featuring an architrave composed of Ionic columns, a plain frieze and cornice, and a recessed round-headed doorway with a glazed fanlight. Inside, a fine dog-leg staircase of a late 17th-century style is preserved, featuring panelled pillar newels, massive strings, turned balusters, and a moulded handrail. This staircase may be a remnant from a house built in 1693 for Sir Alexander Rigby.