24, 26 And 28, Lower Market Street

This is a large town house, originally built in the late 17th century, likely for William Challons or possibly John Reede, and situated on an older site. It was later refaced in the mid-19th century and divided into three separate houses, each with a shop. The building is constructed of stucco over rubble, with a steeply pitched roof covered in Delabole slate, which has bitumen grouting on the right side. The eaves feature a panelled soffit, and there's a brick end stack on the right. The original single-depth plan was extended to double-depth, incorporating a 19th-century outshut at the rear, replacing earlier wings and a wing on the right side. It has three storeys and a seven-window front. The windows are late 19th-century sashes with horns, set within moulded architraves. A central, moulded open pediment adorns the second floor. The ground floor now has three late 19th-century shop fronts: a double shop front on the left (number 28), and single shop fronts to the others, all with splayed doorways, pilasters, consoles, and moulded cornices over the fascias. A house doorway has been blocked on the right.

Interior work around 1980 revealed some original 17th-century features, including an oak timber-frame partition with two ovolo-moulded doorframes to the rear of the front range. There’s also an unusual oak trussed roof structure, similar to that at 5 The Square, with curved truss feet, no collars or tie beams, but truss feet jointed onto a wallplate, which is carried on 17th-century attic floor joists of pine. Further pine joists are below, along with trenched pine purlins, and evidence suggests dormer windows used to be present in each bay along the front. The method used to support the front rubble wall on "needles" while the shop fronts were inserted was also revealed. Prior to the inspection, old panelling was removed from one room.