Parnella House

Parnella House, located at 23 Market Place, is an 18th-century building that stands three storeys tall. It features an elaborate façade with a rusticated ground floor wall, complemented by a Doric screen, which likely dates from a later period. This screen consists of six free-standing columns that support an entablature built onto the main wall. The upper part of the building has chamfered quoins and a slightly projecting central bay, topped with a moulded and bracketed cornice that includes a central pediment. A parapet with moulded coping crowns the slate roof.

The upper section of the building includes flanking two-storey angular bays that rest on the ground floor order. The first-floor windows in these bays are of the Palladian type, featuring an entablature for the side lights, and architraves with keystones for the central lights. There is a single central window on the second floor, also with an architrave and keystone. On the first floor, there is a central niche, possibly a later insertion in a former window, framed by an architrave with rusticated blocks and a triple keystone, along with a projecting bracketed cill. This niche houses a statue of Aesculapius.

The ground floor includes four windows and a central five-panel door with a glazed upper panel. Notable features include a brass lion head knocker and a cast iron foot scraper on the left side. The windows do not have glazing bars. To the left, there is an extension with a six-panel flush passage door and an architrave surround, along with a window above. Inside, the right-hand ground floor room boasts an early 18th-century fireplace with carved ornamentation and a unique enriched ceiling beam featuring interlaced curved ornament. The beam has enriched cornice moulding, and there is a good contemporary staircase with turned balusters and a moulded handrail.

Parnella House is part of a group that includes Nos. 21 to 24 and The Black Swan Hotel.