14 and 16 Fore Street

This property comprises a former cross-passage house with an open hall, likely dating from the 16th century. The east-facing elevation was re-fronted in the early to mid-19th century to present a formal frontage onto Fore Street, and the building has undergone alterations from the 17th to the 21st centuries.

The construction materials are rendered cob, stone, and brick, with slate tile roofing. The building retains evidence of its original open-hall layout, oriented east to west. The central and eastern bays were raised to create three storeys during the 19th-century re-facing. A single-bay addition sits above the entrance to a side passage on the south side of the building. The ground-floor shop unit has been combined with the adjacent property at number 12 Fore Street.

The principal, east-facing elevation to Fore Street is three storeys high. It features a mid-to-late 19th-century shop front with a central entrance beneath a semi-circular fanlight, flanked by plate-glass display windows reinforced with an iron strut and panelled stall risers. A central, canted-bay window is positioned on the first floor, while the second floor has a pair of one-over-one sash windows with plain architraves. The upper storeys are framed by panelled pilasters, beneath a moulded eaves cornice and a parapet wall that disguises a hipped roof. Supporting brackets are present on either side of the fascia and cornice, along with matching pilasters and corbels framing the entrance. A set-back bay to the left has early-21st-century timber gates leading to the passage below, and a six-over-six sash window on the first floor, positioned beneath a pitched roof.

The south-facing side elevation incorporates a side entrance under a triangular canopy with a modillion eaves cornice, supported by octagonal posts. It also has two and three-light casement windows, including a possible 17th-century three-light stone mullion window towards the west end. The upper storeys of the rear elevation are finished with slate tiles.

Inside, the ground floor of the eastern section shows five chamfered ceiling beams, including two with ogee mouldings, and remnants of a fireplace with ogee-moulded jambs. Evidence of a winder staircase is visible in the north wall, with 19th-century repairs including new treads. The western end reveals the remains of two jointed-cruck roof trusses, the western one being a full cruck exhibiting diagonally-jointed blades. Mortices within the cruck blade may have once held decorative facetted pegs. There are trenches in the backs of the cruck blades for through purlins. The first and second floors of the central and east bays retain original early- to mid-19th-century fixtures, fittings, joinery, plasterwork, and fireplaces.