8 and 8a, Leighton Street

This is a mid-18th century house, originally a single dwelling, later subdivided into two separate homes at numbers 8 and 8A, Leighton Street. The building is constructed of red brick, with some of the brick facing having been distorted by heat, laid in a pattern where the short ends of the bricks are visible on the front and a more decorative pattern on the sides. The dressings (decorative elements) are of a lighter red brick. The roof is tiled and has a mansard shape — a roof with a double slope — with two sections. The front section of the roof is hipped, sloping downwards towards the road. The front elevation has horizontal bands of brick at the first and second floor levels. A high parapet (a low wall along the top of a building) sits above the main roofline and is constructed of brick with stone coping. The ground and first floors each have windows divided into three vertical sections, with slender bars separating the panes of glass, set within flat brick arches. The parapet has two raised panels set into rectangular recesses, and these panels have flat-arched tops that echo the design of the windows below. There are two box dormers (small, dormer windows projecting from a sloping roof) in the attic, rising slightly above the parapet.

At the east side of number 8, the facade has three windows, with a brick band at first floor level. It has a wooden eaves cornice (a decorative moulding at the edge of the roof) and no parapet. The ground floor has a recessed window area on the left and a projecting bay, added in the late 19th century, on the right, which contains a tripartite sash window. The first floor has a recessed window area on the left, a two-light casement window in the centre, and a three-light casement window on the right, all with glazing bars. The west side of number 8A is similar in appearance but without the late 19th-century projecting bay. The building has red brick chimney stacks rising from the ridge and gable ends.