44 And 45, Market Place

CHIPPENHAM

ST9273SW MARKET PLACE 930-1/10/111 (North side) 25/04/50 Nos.44 AND 45

GV II

Formerly known as: Nos.44 AND 44A Ye Olde Wilts Flower Shoppe and No.45 MARKET PLACE. Part of an inn, now a supermarket with offices above. Mid C18 facade remains from conversion into supermarket by Percy Thomas Partership in 1970-72. Limestone ashlar with double-Roman tile roof. 3-unit plan, formerly with rear wings. EXTERIOR: 3 storeys; 4-window range. The whole facade of Nos 44 and 45, and 46 and 47 (qv) is virtually symmetrical, Nos 44 and 45 are the centre and right ranges. The wide central range of No.45 is stepped forward with a pediment, chamfered quoins, platband and plinth. A Diocletian window to the 2nd floor has a 3/6-pane sash window to the centre, over a Venetian window to the 1st floor. A wide segmental arch to a former carriage entrance is now glazed. Similar windows to the far right range over a C20 opening. The cornice flanking the pediment, sillband and platband span the facade of No.44 to the left. 2 former full-height canted bays to the right have 6/6-pane sash windows to the upper floors. The bays to the ground floor have been removed and the spaces filled with plate-glass shop windows flush with the facade. INTERIOR: not inspected. HISTORY: the re-modelled building was formerly part of the The White Hart Inn, known as Ye Harte in 1548 when it probably extended across the sites of Nos 44 to 48 Market Place (qv). Oliver Cromwell and Robert Peel are known to have stayed here. The importance of the inn declined with the coming of the railway and it was sold for private purposes in 1850. Included for group value. (Chamberlain, Joseph A: Chippenham: Chippenham: 1976-: 132; The Buildings of England: Pevsner N & Cherry B: Wiltshire: London: 1967-1975: 170).

Listing NGR: ST9217273287