8, Bull Street

8 Bull Street is a late 17th to 18th century building that was refronted in the late 18th century and has undergone later alterations. As of January 2000, it was undergoing refurbishment. The front is made of red brick with moulded wooden eaves, an old plain tile roof, and a brick chimney, with part of it rendered. The rear has been rebuilt in brick along the right side but retains rendered timber-framing and brick infill on the left courtyard side. The interior features timber-framed walls with plaster infill.

The building is L-shaped, with two storeys, an attic, and cellars, and includes a carriage entry through the left bay. The front has a carriage entrance to the left, with a timber lintel and a 19th-century sash window above. The right side of the facade retains gauged window arches and a central door from a former double-fronted arrangement, though the windows have been altered: the left ground-floor window has no glazing bars, the right ground-floor window has been enlarged into a 20th-century shop window, and the first-floor windows have been replaced by a 19th-century canted oriel with sashes. There is also a single roof-light.

The courtyard elevation is irregular, featuring a 19th-century tripartite sash window on the ground floor and a circa 1700 leaded cross window on the first floor. The far end was extended in the early 19th century in whitewashed brick, with a first-floor band, to provide storage bays with plank doors on both storeys.

Inside, the rough timber framing includes some reused timbers, with vertical studs and tall plastered infill panels on slanting wattles, characteristic of the local style. There are long diagonal braces, heavy wall-plates, slight purlins, and slight collar and tie-beam trusses, with raking queen struts in the rear wing. Winder stairs lead to the cellar, first floor, and the room above the carriage entrance. The altered chimneystack is located in the front range. The main room on the ground floor features an ovolo-moulded spine beam. The cross window has panes inscribed 'J Lodge 1780' and 'W J Arnold 1872 - cold November'. The survival of the late timber-framing is crucial to the special interest of this building.