Public Library

This is a timber-frame town house, originally dating to the late 15th century, and subsequently restored and extended in the 1901-2 by Edward Graham Holtom, incorporating a former Technical School built in 1899 by Arthur Stanley Flower. The construction is timber-frame with plaster infill on a rubble base, with brick and ashlar dressings, and tile roofs featuring brick end and rear stacks.

The building presents a two-storey, three-window range, alongside a two-storey, jettied and gabled wing to the left, and a two-storey, single-window range with an attic to the right. The main range has close studding, with a section of more recent brickwork on the ground floor beneath the jettied first floor. All windows have leaded glazing. The ground floor features a six-light wooden mullioned window, along with ashlar double-chamfered-mullioned windows of four and three lights. The first floor has three-light and two four-light wooden mullioned windows. A foundation stone is visible at the right end.

The wing to the left exhibits square framing. The entrance is marked by C20 doors to the right of an eight-light wooden-mullioned window with diagonally set mullions. The first floor of this wing has a two-light window flanked by single lights, with a further three-light window above. Arch-braces support the tie beam. The right-hand section has a jettied gable with enriched bargeboards and bressumers. An entrance with a four-centred head and overlights is flanked by a battened door with strap hinges and a four-light wooden mullioned window with four-centred heads. An oriel window is positioned above, featuring a transomed window with central and side lights. The attic window is three-light with a traceried lintel, and an end stack is present. The rear includes a single-storey roughcast gabled wing and a long brick wing representing the former Technical School.

The interior of the ground floor reveals heavy chamfered beams and flat joists. A brick and tile fireplace with a pot hanger and an ex-situ carved frieze depicting a vine trail is also visible. The rear wing has arch-braced collar trusses. The first floor exposes roof trusses; one wing displays a tie-beam and collar truss with double-chamfered tie, braces, and wall posts, while another filled truss features a collar with wind braces. To the right, a bay features an arch-braced tie beam with two collars and struts. A more recent two-bay roof has an arch-braced collar truss with a king post and halved collar, double purlins, and wind braces.

Historically, the building was slated for demolition to make way for a Carnegie library. However, public campaign led by the novelist Marie Corelli successfully prevented this taking place; this is significant as the first locally recorded conservation campaign.