48, Market Place

This is part of a former inn, now offices, located in Chippenham. The main structure dates to the 16th century, with a substantial refacing in the early 18th century. It has a rear wing added later, creating an L-shaped layout. The front is built of painted limestone ashlar, while the rear wing is timber-framed with brick nogging, and has a steep-pitched double-Roman tile roof that is hipped at the front and gabled at the back.

The front facade is four stories high with a three-window range. A cornice returns to the left along the top of the parapet wall. The windows have moulded architraves. Small, square 20th-century windows are visible in the top floor. The early 18th-century windows on the first and second floors are 6-over-6-pane sash windows with thick glazing bars and crown glass. A 20th-century shopfront occupies the ground floor. The rear wing is a separate block linked by a passage.

Inside, the room on the first floor features a chamfered crossbeam, a box cornice, and full-height unpainted raised-and-fielded panelling. The windows have ovolo moulded glazing bars, crown glass, panelled reveals, and window seats. A stone, cyma-moulded, Tudor-arched fireplace with shields in the spandrels is set into the rear wall. The fireplace is flanked by doors with two raised-and-fielded panels, left-hand hinges, and 4-pane overlights. A cupboard is on the right, and a passage entrance is on the left, leading to the rear wing. A 17th-century cupboard door with a pierced diamond in the panelling is located to the right of the passage. The second floor of the rear wing has a slightly chamfered beam with triangular stops, an open fire with sunk spandrels, and stop-chamfered spine beams with run-out stops. The ground floor retains flagstones, now covered with carpet.

Historically, the building was part of the White Hart Inn, known as Ye Harte in 1548, and likely extended across the sites of numbers 44 to 48 Market Place. Oliver Cromwell and Robert Peel are known to have stayed here. The inn’s prominence declined with the arrival of the railway, and it was sold for private use in 1850. It is part of a grouping of buildings with notable 18th-century facades, including numbers 44, 45, 46, and 47.