21 And 23, Bell Street

21 and 23 Bell Street is a large timber-framed hall-house that dates back to the 15th century or earlier, positioned parallel to the street. The building features a two-storey rear wing from the 17th century, with a large central stack added at the upper end of the hall, and the hall itself has been floored. In the 19th century, the house was subdivided, and a yellow stock brick front was added. No 23 contains the parlour section, while the hall is part of No 23, and the shop area includes the service rooms and cross passage.

The structure now stands at two storeys with attics, topped by a steep old red tile gabled roof that extends in a catslide over a rear lean-to at the west end. The ends of the building are weatherboarded, with a plastered gable on the west side and chevron pargetting on the first-floor rear. The two-storey timber-framed rear wing features basketwork pargetting and has 17th-century cross windows with square leaded panes on both the east and west walls, along with a large external gable chimney.

The west end has two 19th-century two-light wooden casements and a slightly recessed three-window front with 4/8 sash windows. There are also two 19th-century shopfronts, with the one at No 23 featuring shaped brackets supporting an entablature over a mullioned window. The ground floor includes a 6/6 sash window for the house, and the upper part of the four-panel doors is glazed. Flat gauged arches are present, and an archaic clasping plate over the wall plate is visible on both the front and west gable. Internally, close-set pairs of pegs on the west tie beam indicate heavy close timbering. The axial beam in the west shop shows signs of a partition between the pantry and buttery, and a post has rebates for two doors. The rear middle bay-post of the hall, now in the kitchen of No 21, has been cut off below ceiling level. The use of clasping plates over tie beams above the wall plate suggests an early origin for the building.