19 and 20 High Street

19 and 20 High Street is a mid-18th-century house or pair of houses, extended at the rear and altered to accommodate use as a public house. The building is constructed of brick with recessed timber sash windows under a slate roof.

The plan consists of an east-west front range facing the High Street, with a north-south range connected at the south-east corner. Later extensions include one north-south range running the full length of the plot from the front range, and two further extensions orientated east-west that form a small rear yard.

The front elevation facing the High Street is five bays wide and two storeys tall, with a hidden attic level behind a stone-coped brick parapet. The walls are of red-grey bricks laid predominantly in header bond, with red brick window dressings and quoins. The central bay and two end piers project slightly. At the centre is a recessed door with tiled step, set within a doorcase with Doric fluted pilasters supporting a triangular pediment. On either side are modern shop fronts divided into three panels, each with a panelled stall riser beneath a transom window with multi-pane glazing to the top section, and modern fascia panels above.

A three-brick string course separates the ground from the first floor. The centre of the first floor has a recessed round-headed one-over-one sash window with a block cill and raised rendered keystone and imposts. On either side are pairs of recessed one-over-one sashes with rubbed brick flat arches and block cills. A three-brick string course separates these from the parapet. The steeply pitched slate roof is gabled at its western end and hipped at its eastern end, with two partially visible hipped dormers on the front roof slope.

The eastern (side) elevation of 20 High Street is two storeys tall with an attic. The elevation is six bays wide, with the southernmost five bays projecting eastwards from the line of the sixth and the rear. The second and fourth bays are canted and extend the third bay further eastwards. The elevation is faced with red-grey and red bricks laid predominantly in Flemish bond, with variations. The area between ground- and first-floor level windows on the second, third and fourth bays is predominantly red-grey bricks in header bond, while at building line breaks (between bays two and three, three and four, and five and six) the facing is solely red brick. A modern red brick ramp and stairs with railings extend along the elevation, giving access to a doorway on a later extension adjoining the rear. A small wall topped with stone coping buttresses the east elevation, standing level with the top of the stallrisers on the north elevation.

Bays one to four from the south have recessed six-over-six sashes with rubbed brick flat arches and block cills at both ground- and first-floor level. The fifth bay has such a sash window at first-floor level, but at ground-floor level has a panelled door with a six-pane fanlight above, timber surround and rubbed brick flat arch. Access is provided by metal steps with decorative metal railings consisting of plain risers topped with two horizontal members with circles between. The sixth bay has a recessed one-over-one sash window with block cill and rubbed brick flat arch at first-floor level and a recessed blocked-up opening with block cill and rubbed brick flat arch at ground-floor level. A brick parapet extends above the level of the first-floor windows.

The hipped slate roof to the east elevation is set back from the level of the fifth (northernmost) bay. A rear extension extends eastward adjoining the next plot and includes an open arch providing access to a rear yard. From this passageway, a small window with block cill is visible at attic level on the narrow southern elevation of the eastern wing.

The western elevation of 20 High Street directly abuts 21 High Street, with only the rendered first floor and gable end visible from the High Street. The rear elevation of the historic building is obscured by attachment to later commercial buildings in the rear yard.