51, St Mary Street

This is a house located in Chippenham, originally built in the 16th century and significantly altered around the 18th century. The front is constructed of limestone ashlar with a stone slate roof, featuring ashlar ridge stacks centrally and at the rear of a wing. It has a two-unit plan with a right-hand passage and a rear left wing.

The exterior has three storeys and a five-window front. A cornice runs along the eaves, with a platband and bracketed gutter detail above. The windows are 6/6-pane sashes, with a mix of old glass. A pedimented doorway, supported by moulded brackets and an architrave, leads to the 18th-century front door, which consists of six raised and fielded panels. The rear wing, facing east, dates to the mid-17th century. It is constructed of limestone rubble, gabled to the south and rear, and has a large ashlar ridge stack and hoodmoulds over 2- and 3-light stone-mullioned windows with ovolo mouldings. One ground-floor window at the rear has been enlarged in the 20th century but may incorporate original mullions, and has leaded glazing. The return gable (south side) has a 6/6-pane sash window in the gable and a bracketed hood over a wide 17th-century planked door.

Inside, the right-hand passage is flagged with stone. A plastered-over timber-framed wall is on the left side of the passage, and a 20th-century stone archway gives access to the rear. A room to the left of the passage contains an open fire with an oak lintel. An axial beam extends from the chimney breast through the wall and across the passage, being moulded on the front and chamfered on the rear, with a stop-chamfered spine beam with run-out stops where it met a former junction close to the wall of the passage. A room to the far left has a former 16th-century panelled ceiling with moulded beams, some panels having been partially filled to reveal the base of the moulded beams, while others have had the beams removed. A 20th-century plank-and-muntin screen separates the room from a 20th-century splat-balustered staircase.

The rear wing’s kitchen has an ogee-stopped chamfered cross-beam and a restored stone fireplace. Another room at the rear has a wide 17th-century planked door leading to a courtyard. A room on the first floor of the right wing, above the kitchen, has a chamfered cross-beam and some 17th-century panelling with a small cupboard near an open fire. Another room towards the rear has part of a 16th-century panelled ceiling with moulded beams. The attic space features a 3-bay collar-beam roof, oak floorboards, and a painted 17th-century oak planked door.