38-41, BRIDGE STREET

A row of houses, now shops and offices, dating to the late 18th century with a core of earlier, possibly 17th-century, fabric. The construction is a mix of painted brick and an earlier core, with a slate roof punctuated by a central gable and two brick ridge stacks. The building originally comprised three units and displays an eight-window front, one window being blocked. The upper windows are 6/6 sash windows set beneath gauged brick flat arches, with a prominent storeyband. Later additions include 20th-century shop fronts to numbers 38, 39 and 40. Number 41 has a late 20th-century shop front incorporating an earlier half-glazed door with a moulded case, flanked by shop windows with ornamental glazing bars and a modillioned wood hood. A passage leading to the rear of number 41 reveals original ceiling joists.

The rear wall of number 41 displays visible timber framing (interior), and the third floor exhibits it externally. A two-storey, 16th-century timber-framed wing extends from the rear of number 40, featuring box framing with plastered brick infill, a moulded bressumer supported on chamfered brackets and pilasters, and a 19th-century four-panel door.

The interior of number 38 features a late 18th/early 19th-century dogleg staircase with turned balusters and newels and a plank door leading to the stairs. The second floor has a 19th-century corner fireplace, a wall cupboard, architraves, and both four-panel and six-panel doors. The first floor has two-panel doors, a wall cupboard, and architraves. The cellar is stone-lined. Number 39 contains a mutilated late 18th-century staircase with a moulded rail, turned balusters, and newels, and an early 18th-century sash window to the stairwell light. The second floor has an early 19th-century wall cupboard and a four-panel door with an architrave. The first floor shows exposed 17th-century timber framing in the rear wing. The ground floor rear wing has massive exposed posts and chamfered ceiling beams. The cellar includes a chamfered ceiling beam and is partly stone-lined.

Number 40's interior includes a late 18th/early 19th-century dogleg staircase with turned newels and balusters. The second floor has four-panel doors, the first floor has exposed posts and four-panel doors, and the ground floor has exposed posts and 17th-century box framing with ogee stop-chamfered ceiling beams. The cellar has chamfered ceiling beams. Number 41 features an early 19th-century dogleg staircase with a moulded rail and turned balusters and newels. Second floor displays exposed 16th- and 18th-century timber framing. The first floor has exposed 16th- and 18th-century framing and window architraves. The ground floor demonstrates exposed 17th-century framing, a massive post, worked lintels, a cast-iron fluted pillar with a foliate capital, a 19th-century wall cupboard with glazed sliding doors, and a four-panel door. The cellar contains reused moulded and chamfered beams, and a reset carved barge board fragment.