Lloyds Bank

Lloyds Bank is a bank and office, likely constructed in the late 1860s. It is built of Flemish bond brick, with the left end rendered and dressed with stone. The roof is slate, featuring an axial stack with a corbelled brick shaft and multiple pots. The architectural style is High Victorian eclectic, displaying a blend of Italianate and Egyptian influences.

The building follows a double-depth plan, with the banking hall situated to the left of the front elevation. The front is organised as two compositions, divided by a wider bay, with a cast iron downpipe in a matching style, the bank being the more elaborate of the two. The roof has deep eaves supported by acanthus-carved brackets. Moulded strings are present at the first and second floor sill levels. All windows and doors are set within architraves with rounded upper corners, and blind slits are incorporated into the brickwork between the bays.

The bank section is symmetrical above the ground floor. The banking hall’s central doorway is flanked by a grandiose porch with pilasters having acanthus-carved capitals. A panelled stone band above the lintel extends to the left and right, rising above the door and window openings and decorated with carved rosettes. A moulded keyblock sits above the lintel, and a curved, corbelled stone porch hood with a moulded cornice forms a first-floor balcony with an iron balustrade. There is a large window to the banking hall on the right, glazed with a 20th-century timber three-light transomed casement, and a single-light window to the left, similarly glazed. A doorway to the extreme left has steps leading to a panelled door with a deep overlight.

The first floor features five original two-pane sashes linked under a cornice on pairs of richly-moulded consoles. A segmental pediment above the centre window incorporates carved bearded heads. A stone band, decorated with carved rosettes, extends across the front below the cornice, rising above the windows, which are each finished with shield-shaped keystones. The first-floor windows are consistent across the entire eight-bay front, utilising two-pane sashes, a stone band with carved rosettes above the windows, and round-headed sunk panels between them.

The three-bay office to the right presents a somewhat simpler facade. The central recessed doorway has steps leading to an original panelled two-leaf door with a deep overlight, and there are two-pane sashes to the left and right. The first floor also has three two-pane sashes under a cornice, this time without a pediment. The second-floor windows mirror those described previously. The interior has not been inspected, but may retain features of interest. The building is a prominent, heavily-decorated High Victorian structure, providing a contrast to the plain 18th-century houses along the High Street.