42 King Street, Melksham

42 King Street, Melksham is a Grade II listed building comprising an 18th-century house that incorporates a formerly separate late 16th or early 17th-century range to the south, with an attached 19th-century forge to the rear. The building has undergone 19th and 20th-century additions and alterations.

The structure is constructed of coursed rubble stone with ashlar quoins and dressings. The front and side elevations are finished with stone tiled roofing, while the rear is pantiled. The southern range has been re-fronted with coursed rubble stone, but its side elevation retains brick to the ground floor and timber-framing with brick infill to the first floor. The chimney stacks are primarily brick, with a stone stack to the north gable.

The building is arranged as a cross-passage house with rooms on either side, incorporating the single-bay late 16th or early 17th-century range to the south. The former forge to the rear has been extended westwards to form a garage, and 19th-century additions lie to the rear of the main house.

The principal east elevation comprises two storeys with a three-bay range to the right and the surviving single-bay early range to the left. The earlier wing was re-fronted in stone in the late 20th century. To the ground floor are two late 20th-century wooden sash windows beneath an oak lintel spanning the bay width, indicating the former position of double-doors. The first floor has a sixteen-light casement window. The south elevation is brick in English garden wall bond to the ground floor, with timber-framing and brick infill above. A rendered gable appears towards the rear with a lateral brick stack. The rear elevation is gabled, with first-floor timber-framing concealed by the mono-pitch forge roof but visible within that building.

The front of the 18th-century house has three bays with a central doorway within a stone surround, topped by a moulded canopy supported on stone corbels. The door itself is late 20th century. Ground and first-floor windows on either side are late 20th-century wooden double-glazed sashes in original openings. The rear elevation has a central dormer and a two-storey 19th-century extension, together with a single-storey gabled addition shared with 40 King Street.

Internally, the ground floor of the late 16th or early 17th-century range retains a four-panelled ceiling of moulded oak beams with a carved central boss featuring scallop shell, star, diamond and maple leaf motifs. Mortice holes in the central beam indicate a former partition wall. A stone corner fireplace at the west end has an oak bressumer. The two first-floor rooms contain exposed timber-framed walls with jowl posts supporting the tie beam and wall plate. The roof comprises scissor-braced principal rafters and a ridge purlin, dated to the late 16th or early 17th century.

The 18th-century house interior was substantially remodelled in the 20th century, with most internal doors replaced in late 20th century. The south wall of the cross passage has been removed, and an arched opening in the left-hand room provides access to the earlier incorporated range. The left-hand room has a late 20th-century fireplace, while the corresponding fireplace in the right-hand room has been removed. The original 18th-century winder staircase remains in position. The first floor has a 19th-century four-panelled door accessing a 19th-century winder staircase to the attic. The attic displays principal rafters and trenched purlins.

The former forge comprises a capped brick hearth and truncated brick stack. The late 20th-century garage to the west of the forge is excluded from the listing.