Nos. 42 and 44, CASTLE STREET

Nos. 42 and 44 Castle Street are a pair of houses dating back to the 16th century, with significant rebuilding and enlargement in the 18th century and refurbishment in the 20th century, including a rear addition. The houses have a timber-frame structure, a peg-tiled roof, and a red brick stack. The overall plan is irregular, forming a U-shape with the street frontage and rear additions.

The north-facing front elevation has a two-window, two-door arrangement, topped with a gambrel roof. Windows and doors are 20th-century replacements. No. 42 features 20th-century panel pargetting with basket and combed decoration. Ground and first floor windows are 2-light casements with 4x4 panes, while the front door has a 3x3 pane window above. No. 44 has remnants of 19th-century ashlar lining on the plasterwork, with ground and first floor 2-light casement windows of 4x2 panes, and a boarded, battened and studded front door.

The rear, south-facing elevation of No. 42 has a full-width, two-storey flat-roofed addition with a brushed plaster finish, containing a fully glazed ground floor door and 3-light casement windows. A flat-roofed dormer window includes a 2-light casement. No. 44 features a 20th-century two-storey gabled and jettied unit with a French window (4x5 panes) and a 2-light casement window above. A staggered, two-section ground floor gabled addition is weatherboarded with a slate roof, incorporating a door with 2x3 pane upper glazing and 2-light casement windows of 4x3 panes and 2x2 panes. A single casement window occupies the gable end (2x4 panes). The principal range's first floor has a single-light window. A flat-roofed dormer (2x2 panes) and a skylight are also present on the roof.

Internally, a significant portion of the timber framing, floors, and partitions are of slender 18th-century design, incorporating both oak and softwood. Upper attic ceiling joists bear carpenters’ marks in Roman numerals. Lower framing of a 16th-century character is present, with an exposed rear face and tension brace. A mullion window, uncovered during recent restoration, is now covered. Central posts have arch brace mortices. Wall plates remain in position below the first-floor windows, with tie-beam dovetails (tie removed), rafter seatings, and halved and bridle-butted scarfs. No. 44 contains the open hall of a 3-celled medieval house, with the front wall plate continuing into No. 42. A single contemporary storey post also remains in No. 42, with wattle notches. Framing is also present in No. 46. The location of a former hall window suggests that No. 42 was a service bay and No. 46 the solar.