56, St Mary Street

This building, located at 56 St Mary Street in Chippenham, is a house that likely dates back to the late medieval period, with modifications made in the mid to late 17th century and a rear extension added in the 19th century. It is constructed from limestone rubble, featuring freestone quoins and a plinth, topped with a stone slate roof that has brick stacks on the right gable end and the rear slope of the left gable end. The house has an L-shaped plan with a two-unit central entry front block.

The exterior is one storey with an attic at the front and two storeys at the rear, displaying a two-window range. The windows are mostly 20th-century, with timber lintels, except for those in the attic which have ovolo architraves and were originally two-light mullioned windows, now replaced with 19th-century horizontal sliding sashes. The attic features two gabled full dormers, with the left one having a steeper pitch. A wrought-iron bracketed gutter runs along the facade at sill level.

The entrance is marked by a freestone rusticated door case with edge-roll moulding, which holds a 20th-century planked door and a gabled hood, flanked by 20th-century small-paned windows. To the far right, there is a rusticated freestone segmental-arched architrave leading to a planked door that serves as the entrance to No. 55. The left gable end has been rebuilt in render. The roof of the rear right wing has a shallower pitch and features freestone quoins, likely added later, along with a bracketed gutter and casement windows from various periods, including the 19th and 20th centuries.

Inside, remnants of a cruck frame can be found at the right gable end, along with part of a cruck and collar truss at the left end.