22, Fore Street

No. 22 Fore Street is a town house or merchant's house with a later shop, dating from the 16th or 17th century, with a front that was remodelled in the 18th century. The building is constructed of stucco on what is likely rubble, topped with a low-pitched slate roof that has a parapet and an entablature with a lower band, along with rendered end stacks. It has a deep plan that includes a rear wing. The house is two storeys high and features a three-window range. The first floor has 12-pane hornless sash windows from the 18th or early 19th century, while the ground floor has a late 19th-century 6-pane horned sash window on the left. A 20th-century entablature with a fascia sits above a central chamfered doorway that contains a 6-panel door, and to the right is a large late 19th-century 6-pane horned sash window serving as the shop window. The rear wing shows remnants of a 16th or 17th-century dripmould set into a wall that is now blocked by a late 18th or early 19th-century 16-pane hornless sash window. Inside, the house retains 17th-century moulded muntins from a former screen on the right side and shows significant 17th-century features in the front room of the rear wing, including an altered lateral fireplace, heavy cross beams, and a window bay that has undergone many alterations, including the reuse of 17th-century window fragments. Other rooms and the roof structure have not been inspected but are likely to be of interest.