2-6, Castle Chain

This is a two-house property, now combined, with a later cottage, likely originating in the 17th century or earlier. It was extended in the late 18th century and significantly altered in the late 19th century. The front elevation to Castle Chain is constructed of rusticated coursed sandstone with ashlar dressings, rendered to the sides and rear, and has a plain tile roof. The building is two storeys and a basement, with a varied arrangement of windows - 2:1:2:2 on the first floor. The elevation presents as a late 19th-century Gothic Revival design, although some original features remain. The central section (No. 4) is the largest and tallest, flanked by an original smaller unit (No. 6) on the left and a later smaller unit (No. 2) on the right, resulting in varying roof heights and a somewhat eclectic appearance. A round turret at the left end of the central section contains an early spiral staircase leading down to the basement. Windows are 19th century, with double-chamfered mullions and a continuous, stepped hoodmould above the ground-floor windows, which are at different levels.

The ground floor, from left, features a four-light window, a studded oak board door in a basket-arched surround with a coat of arms of three lions couchant above, two slit windows in the turret, a two-light window with a dripmould, a three-light window, a matching door with the original coat of arms of the Duchy of Lancaster above, a three-light window, and an added cottage with a four-panel door in a chamfered, triangular-headed surround, and a three-light window. The first floor displays three- and two-light windows to No. 6, with a pent-roofed dormer over one window, two slit windows to the turret, two three-light windows to the main house, and two- and three-light windows to No. 2. No. 4, including the turret, has a corbel table. Ridge stacks are located to the left of the door in No. 6, near the left end, and at the right end of No. 4, and to the right end of No. 2; decorative clay ridge tiles are also present.

The basement windows facing the garden are side-sliding sashes with fielded-panel shutters. The basement also contains chamfered beams and a stone spiral staircase leading to the ground floor. The ground-floor parlour in the No. 6 section retains an early 18th-century fire surround with an egg-and-dart motif, a cornucopia and draped centre-piece to the frieze, and a cavetto ceiling cornice. A large ground-floor room in No. 4 has a central chamfered spine-beam with chamfered joists to the first floor and a late 16th to early 17th-century fireplace with Atlantes and caryatids on herms. A first-floor room at the west end of No. 4 features an ashlar fireplace with a four-centred arch and broach stops to the chamfer. A similar, smaller fireplace, with mason's marks, is reportedly located in the loft. The roof is believed to have been raised in the late 19th century, leaving the older, lower roof structure in place.