Top End House

This is a mid-to-late 17th-century house, originally a single dwelling, later divided into two attached properties at an early date in the 19th century. It is located on the west side of West Street, Malmesbury. The building is constructed of limestone rubble with limestone dressings, formerly limewashed, and has ashlar and brick gable stacks and a stone slate roof.

The house has a 3-room plan, with a gabled rear range. The front facade is two storeys high, with a cellar and attic, and features a 1:2-window arrangement. Number 42 has sprocketed eaves supported by brackets, and a stone gable stack. It has a blocked doorway to the right of centre, a former window with a half-glazed door to the left, and first-floor label moulds above 2-light 19th-century casement windows. A lower 1-window wing is visible behind the right-hand return, and a rear range runs parallel to the front. Number 40 includes a recessed entrance door and horned 2/2-pane sash windows with timber lintels. Exposed ends of ceiling and tie beams are visible. The right-hand gable has a low hatch to the cellar. The rear range incorporates a ground-floor casement and a late 19th-century 3-light sash window on the first floor.

The interior of number 42 includes a cellar cut into bedrock, containing a well and a side passage. There is an altered staircase featuring a late 18th-century column baluster, and a first-floor stone fireplace with corner roundels and flanking cupboards with HL hinges. A winder stair leads to the attic, which has cambered tenoned collar trusses with butt purlins. Number 40 has not been inspected.