44a and 44b, King Street

This is a house, now divided into two dwellings, built around 1800, with a later addition. It is constructed of stuccoed red brick, with a Welsh slate roof. The main part of the building is three storeys high and has three bays. A narrower, two-storey bay was added to the left. External stone steps lead to a central front door, which has a part-glazed fanlight within a pedimented wooden doorcase. Bow windows flank the outer bays; these have curved sashes with glazing bars, flanked by eight-pane sashes with fluted wooden mullions. On the first floor, moulded stone sills are present beneath boxed sashes with glazing bars. The second floor has similar sills to short six-pane sashes, with a later sash in the window of the first bay. A moulded cornice sits below a coped parapet, which steps upwards at each end. Brick end stacks are visible. The later addition on the left has a 20th-century door, along with a small window and window above. Shaped kneelers are present at the rear of the main range. The house was formerly the residence of the Darley family, who owned Thorne’s brewery.