Nos 154 To 160 (Even) And Railings To Street

Nos 154 to 160, Castle Street, represents a group of buildings dating back to the 18th century, forming three sides of a courtyard. The central block is two stories high, rendered in stucco with a moulded cornice, a parapet, and a mansard roof covered in slate, featuring brick chimneys and two fluted conical lead rainwater heads. It has eleven windows on the first floor and six on the ground floor, most of which are glazing bar sash windows. The building originally housed the King's Arms Inn. There are two doorways with small Doric porches, although the columns of the porch at No 156 have been replaced with plain uprights. The doors themselves are six-panel doors; No 156 is partially glazed, and the upper two panels of No 158 are also glazed. A side door with a trellis porch is located to the left.

The left-hand wing (No 160) is two stories high with an attic, constructed of stucco with an old tile roof, partially mansard. The street-facing end features a two-story bow with three cross-glazed sash windows and a balcony supporting an attic window. An arched doorway is flanked by a reeded pilaster surround and a fanlight. The right-hand wing (No 154) is of a later date and is constructed of colour-washed brick with a stone balustrade at the second-floor level, topped with a tarred tile hipped mansard roof and plate glass sash windows. Entry is from the left through a tented, triangular-headed porch.

The front of the building is defined by spearhead iron railings with urns on standards, and the gates have braced upper rails, dog rails, and box-panel standards.

Internally, No 154 houses a late 18th-century staircase. The first-floor bow window room, circa 1790s, features a marble fireplace surround, decorative cornices, and fine doorcases with Adam-style friezes. No 158 contains a particularly interesting interior, including a coved ceiling and a panelled room on the first floor, as well as an 18th-century staircase with turned balusters and a straight string. Originally constructed as an ‘L’ block in 1734, the complex expanded by 1796, when it was occupied by approximately 200 exiled French priests. The building then incorporated covered colonnades to the north and west sides of the courtyard, with a corridor above the colonnade on the west side.