Sheriff House

This is a late 18th-century town house, now used as offices, built for Cornelius Launder, who was High Sheriff in 1775 and lived in the house from 1768 to 1806. The house is constructed of red brick with painted ashlar dressings, a rendered plinth and parapet. It has a slate roof with two rendered side wall stacks. The exterior features a plinth, bands at the first and second floors, a sill band, a modillion eaves cornice, a pediment, and a parapet with balustrade panels. The house is three storeys high and originally had a three-window front, with glazing bar sashes set within brick flat arches. The second-floor windows are smaller. A projecting central section features a full-height round-arched recess. The doorcase has an open pediment on consoles, sheltering a round-arched six-panel door and a wrought-iron fanlight. Above the door is a window framed as a pseudo-balustrade, with a cornice on brackets. Above that is a Diocletian window. A round-arched passage doorway, also with a wrought-iron fanlight, is on the right. The symmetrical rear elevation has five windows, a renewed central door with sidelights and a Gothic traceried fanlight, a central Venetian window above the door, and a Diocletian window above that. The interior was altered around 1800 and includes a central entrance hall, a stairwell, and a landing with modillion cornices, ceiling rosettes, and Adam style cartouches. An original dogleg staircase has paired turned and twist balusters; the minor dogleg staircases have turned and cast-iron balusters. On the ground floor, the left-hand room retains a dentillated cornice, wall panels, and a replica fireplace. The left-hand first-floor room features wooden-framed wall paneling, a modillion cornice with a triglyph frieze, and a heavily enriched original fireplace with an overmantel mirror. There are two enriched pedimented doorcases with six-panel doors and enriched shouldered window architraves. The right-hand first floor room is of a plainer style. The remaining rooms are characterised by cornices and four and six-panelled doors. The building contains elliptical-arched brick cellars with wine bins and a rock-cut cellar at a lower level.