24 Winchester Street

House, probably built for the mill manager of Whitchurch Silk Mill, 1820.

MATERIALS: mixed soft red brick with a rendered plinth and slate roofs.

PLAN: the L-shaped plan house stands on the southern side of Winchester Street, with the main elevation facing north-east and separated from the street by a narrow pavement. It has a central staircase plan with an open well stair. The rear of the house faces on to the silk mill and grounds. The roofs are hipped, with a cat slide to the rear.

EXTERIOR: the main elevation is symmetrical, built of brick in Flemish bond, and is of three bays over two storeys. The entrance has a moulded timber architrave with very slender pilasters, beneath a flat timber canopy supported on slender barley twist cast iron shafts. The front door has seven panels of which the two upper lights are glazed, and is inset into timber panelled linings. The first floor has three sash windows with ten over ten panes, under segmental arches. All sash windows, apart from the south-eastern elevation, have slender glazing bars and are recessed into the brickwork. Later C19 ground floor bay windows have hipped slate roofs, and paired sash windows between decorative pilasters.

The south-western elevation abuts the later cottage (26 Winchester Street, not included in the listing). It has a single first floor horned sash window with three over three panes under a segmental arch. This window was probably inserted when the cottage was built. The north-western elevation is of two bays with ground and first floor sash windows of eight over eight panes; one with a replacement timber lintel, and the rest under segmental arches. At the rear the south-western elevation has a single eight over eight sash window, again under a segmental arch.

There is a cogged eaves course of angled bricks; this has been altered or repaired on the north-western elevation. Guttering is cast iron and supported by iron support stays. An internal brick chimney stack stands on the ridge of both the south-eastern and north-western elevations. On the ground floor at the rear there is an outshut with a tin and slate roof.

INTERIOR: the house has some C19 panelling and a fireplace in rear morning room. The sitting room and dinning rooms have C20 fireplace surrounds and ceiling mouldings. Two of the bedrooms have C19 small cast iron grates with plain surrounds. It has a dogleg stair which has been altered and repaired.