The Playpen

The Playpen is a house that has been converted into a shop. It has a core dating from the late 14th century, was rebuilt around 1730, and has been altered and refaced in the 20th century. The building is constructed of ashlar stone and features a gabled slate roof. It stands two storeys tall with an attic and has three bays. The exterior includes a moulded cornice and moulded, eared architraves with large keystones above the first-floor windows, which are connected by a band. There are two dormers with 2-pane casements and 12-pane sash windows on the first floor. The ground floor has a 20th-century shop front and a passage opening on the right-hand side, which features a prominent keystone.

Beneath the ground floor front, there is an undercroft with late 14th-century octopartite vaulting, supported by chamfered ribs that spring from four corbels, each carved with faces. The roadside wall, which once provided access to the street before the market place was terraced in the late 17th century, has one two-cusped light window under a flat head to the north and a similar one-light window to the south. Additionally, there are two cupboard openings in the east wall.