34, High Street

No. 34 High Street is a house that has been converted into a shop and office. It dates from the early to mid-18th century and is constructed of red brick with painted sandstone dressings, topped by a plain tile roof. The building is L-shaped and has three storeys. Notable architectural features include remnants of a chamfered stone plinth, chamfered quoins, a deep rusticated stone band beneath the first-floor windows, a plat band between the first and second floors, and a moulded wooden modillion eaves cornice. The gabled ends are parapeted with rounded stone copings, shaped kneelers, and integral brick end stacks, with the right-hand stack having been rebuilt around 1900. There is also a brick ridge stack on the rear wing.

The façade has four bays featuring boxed plate-glass sash windows with moulded stone cills supported by small shaped brackets, and gauged-brick heads with raised keystones. The late 20th-century shop front includes plate glass and a deep fascia. On the left-hand return front, the rear wing has a rendered chamfered plinth and a dentil brick eaves cornice. It also has four bays of boxed glazing bar sashes, some of which have had their bars removed or are blocked.

An early 19th-century doorway is located to the left, featuring a six-panelled door (with the lower two panels flush) and a simple doorcase that includes incised plaster strips, a frieze with a central panel, and a moulded cornice. Inside, there is an 18th-century dog-leg staircase, dating from after 1720, that rises from the first floor to the attic. This staircase has half landings, an open string with shaped brackets, column-on-vase balusters (two per tread), a ramped moulded handrail, and a columnular foot newel at the first floor. The section of the staircase from the ground floor to the first floor has been removed, likely when the house was converted into a shop, and some of the turned balusters in the upper section have been replaced with 20th-century rectangular-section balusters. This house is believed to have been the residence of the Duke of Bridgewater's steward.