The Post Office

The Post Office, located on Castle Street, was built in 1907 by W T Oldrieve. This large building features an ashlar facade and is designed in a restrained Cotswold Tudor style with crisp detailing. It has two storeys and a semi-attic, with a plinth and moulded strings that extend to the second floor, stepping up to the first floor and returning on the same level to the front on Chipper Lane. The roof has a steep pitch with slate tiles, tall stone chimney stacks that are channelled in a style reminiscent of Voysey, and a small lead domed bell cot on the ridge. The gable ends have saddlestones, and there are stone gabled dormers that break through the eaves. The fenestration is slightly asymmetrical, featuring stone mullioned and transomed leaded casements that are taller on the ground floor and wider towards the corner of the Castle Street front. The main doorway has a four-centred arch with carved spandrels and three lights above it, while there is a similar but smaller secondary entrance. The ground floor windows facing Chipper Lane are large, double transomed with moulded ledges above. There is a later extension on this front in a rather French 17th-century style, which is also ashlar faced, consisting of six bays, a heavy cornice, pedimented dormers, and two storeys with an attic.