106,108 AND 110, FORE STREET

This is a house, comprised of two buildings, now used as offices. The western part of the building dates to the early 17th century, while the remainder was constructed in the early 18th century, with alterations and extensions in the 19th century. The earliest section (No.106) has a timber frame, with the rear left portion rebuilt in red brick laid in irregular English bond. The gable is clad in yellow-brown brick in Flemish bond, and the rear right section (No.110) is built of yellow-grey brick also in Flemish bond. The roofs are covered with Welsh slate and old slate.

The front elevation is three storeys high and has seven segmental-headed recessed sash windows with 12 panes to each. The second floor has similar, smaller sash windows, with plat bands at first and second-floor levels. A further band, which may have originally been a cornice, was cut back and rendered near the base of the parapet. The ground floor has six plain-glazed, segmentally headed wooden windows and a central doorway with a six-panelled door, architrave surround, and moulded cornice hood. The rear left section (No.106) features coupled 12-pane sashes with flush architrave surrounds on both the ground and first floors, a plat band at first-floor level, and a single 12-pane flush-set sash in the attic. Exposed timber lintels are above all windows on this section. To the right (No.110), there are two widely spaced recessed 12-pane sashes under cambered brick arches. The ground floor features early 19th-century French windows, each consisting of three large panes separated by glazing bars, set within cambered brick arches.

The upper roof over the front range is covered with Welsh slate, now hidden by the front parapet. The lower rear slope has old tiles above a moulded wooden cornice. The rear range (No.106) has a gabled roof, while the rear range of No.110 has a low-pitched hipped roof clad in Welsh slate. Chimneys on the end gables of the front have been reduced in height. A tall, square cement-rendered stack with a red brick oversailing course and three tall orange clay pots serves the rear wing of No.106. A single-storey extension with a lean-to Welsh slate roof projects from the boundary wall on the far right (east).

The interior has been extensively altered and opened up. A rear west room in No.106 retains a heavy section beam with a chamfer and tongue stop. The front west room has some 18th-century wood cornices. The lower section of the staircase was rebuilt in the 1930s/1940s, and features a dogleg plan, close string with vase-shaped balusters, and a moulded handrail. A first-floor rear west room includes exposed beams with chamfers and tongue stops. The rear attic of No.106 is ceiled at collar level, and there is no access to the roof structure.

The building has been occupied by auctioneers and estate agents since 1814.