Cottages in Swales Yard

A range of cottages, likely dating from the 16th or 17th century, with alterations in the 18th and 19th centuries. The building is constructed of timber framing, largely rendered, with stone slate and Welsh slate roofs. It appears to consist of four distinct builds. The cottages are two storeys high, with the first floors jettied.

The initial section immediately behind the Corn Market building has two boarded-up ground-floor openings and visible jetty beam ends. The first floor features paired 8-pane sash windows to the left and a single sash window to the right. A steeply-pitched Welsh slate roof is present, with the remains of a stack to the left end.

Following this is a longer range with lower roofs, beginning with a narrow bay, possibly a former chimney stack, containing a boarded-up door. Above the door is a jetty beam end, supported by an inserted post, and a first-floor side-sliding sash window. This range continues with two boarded-up ground-floor windows, four jetty beam ends, one first-floor side-sliding sash window, and a smaller opening. It is covered by a stone slate roof with hints of a ridge stack.

The rearmost range is the longest, with a jetty at a different level. It features three doors and two ground-floor windows, four jetty beam ends, first-floor openings rendered over, a Welsh slate roof with three skylights, and a brick stack near the eaves towards the right-center. Shaped kneelers and ashlar coping are visible on the left side.

The left return displays a portion of a corner post on the first floor and 18th-century brickwork in a Flemish bond pattern to the gable end. Adjacent to the range are the partial remains of stables, some of which have collapsed.

The rear of the building has a ground floor constructed of ashlar sandstone and a first floor with close studding, where the studs bear carpenter’s numbering.

Internally, each cottage appears to have contained two rooms on each floor, with a tightly-winding wooden staircase located in a rear corner. One kitchen retains a late 19th-century set-pot and stone sink, along with remnants of a cast-iron kitchen range. The adjacent parlour has part of an early 18th-century stone fire surround. The roof consists of collared principal rafter trusses.