35, Church Street

No. 35 Church Street is a house that was formerly a public meeting room or guildhall. It dates back to the 16th century or earlier and was converted into a dwelling in the late 16th century, with an extension added in the mid-19th century. The building was restored in 1986 and 1987. It is constructed from coursed coal measures sandstone with quoins, featuring plain gables and brick stacks on the ridge, side walls, and gable. The roof is made of Welsh slate and stone.

The house has two storeys and four bays, originally having a random pattern of 19th-century openings with sash and casement windows beneath plain timber lintels. The stone walls reveal quoined openings from earlier windows. At the first floor level, all four walls, and at least the south gable at ground floor level, retain significant elements of timber mullioned windows. Notably, the south gable features the head and cill members of a 10-light ground floor mullion and transom window, as well as a 6-light first floor window, both with sockets for diamond mullions and holes for timber saddlebars. Additionally, there are at least four other first floor windows, including one on the earlier north gable, which was later obscured by the 19th-century bay added at the north end. A substantial stack was inserted into the central bay at its northern end in the late 16th century.

Inside, the building retains massive oak spine beams and substantial oak joists, with back-to-back hearths; the southern hearth features a cambered lintel supported by side corbels that are integral with the hearth quoins. The first floor hearths are of a similar design but smaller. The roof structure has been re-assembled and consists of queen strut trusses supporting single through purlins, with slightly cambered tie beams. Although there are no windbraces, many oak rafters remain. The evidence of the window openings on the first floor and the substantial construction of the floor suggests that the first floor was used as an assembly room, possibly serving as a guildhall.