The Limes

The Limes is a detached house, built in the late 18th century and now used as flats and a car showroom. It is located on the east side of Melksham Market Place. The building is in an L-shape, with differing materials defining its two wings. The wing on the corner of Spa Road is constructed of ashlar stone, while the wing to the right is of rubble stone. The left wing has a Welsh slate roof, while the right wing has an ornamental tiled and stone slate roof.

The main front of the house is the return facing the street to the left. It is two storeys high with three windows. A central panelled and glazed door, raised three steps, is framed by a moulded architrave and a pediment supported by scrolled brackets decorated with acanthus leaves. Flanked on either side are twelve-pane sash windows in moulded cases. A plat band runs along the first floor, above which are three sashes in moulded cases. Rusticated quoins mark the corners, and a moulded cornice and parapet with balustraded panels top the facade.

The right return to the Market Place features a two-storey canted bay window with twelve-pane sashes and a cantilevered balustraded parapet above the cornice. To the right is the rubble stone wing, two storeys high with an attic, and featuring three windows. A car showroom has been inserted into the ground floor front. The first floor has a central sixteen-pane sash window in a beaded case, with a pair of sixteen-pane sashes either side. Three gabled dormers with cresting and sixteen-pane sashes punctuate the roof. The rear of the showroom is rendered and contains 20th-century windows and inserted doors leading to the flats. To the right of this, and part of the ashlar wing, is a canted bay with twelve-pane sashes surmounted by a hipped roof with a ball finial. A pair of sashes in a beaded case is found to the right, with a mullion dividing the ground and first floors; a plat band is also present. The architectural detailing of a cornice and blocking course with a continued balustrade links the front and side elevations. Lastly, a flat-roofed 19th-century extension features sashes in moulded cases.

The interior is reported to have a good 18th-century staircase. Despite 20th-century alterations to the front facade, the building is included on the list for its important and prominent visual setting in the Market Place.