8 Fore Street

This is a merchant's town house, dating back to the 17th century. It’s built of half-timbered construction with a mix of cob and stone to the side and rear, plastered walls, and a gabled-end slate roof. The building abuts the property to its left.

The house is L-shaped with a rear wing, and originally had a one-room deep main range facing the street. Its design followed the typical merchant-house plan, incorporating a shop and storage area on the ground floor and the main living rooms above.

The front of the building consists of a three-story main range and a two-story rear wing, featuring three windows across the front. A chimney stack is located on the left-hand side, and another is at the junction of the main range and wing, both with brick shafts. The front elevation was originally symmetrical and dating to the 17th century, although the ground floor was altered and refaced in the 19th century under a slated pentice. The left-hand side is slightly projected, with a two-light window containing nine panes per light. The right-hand side of the pentice is coved, and there's a two-light hornless sash window. A vehicular entrance is centrally positioned.

The two upper floors retain exposed close studding and a horizontal bar between the windows, with dentils on the first-floor bar and a convex moulding on the second floor. Below the first-floor coving, the studding takes the form of Ionic pilasters and is punctuated by two six-light windows, slightly projected on brackets, each with eighteen leaded panes. The jambs and mullions are either chamfered or have an ovolo moulding. Some original crown glass remains. The upper part of the first floor incorporates plaster coving concealing a jetty, with a decorative, dentilled frieze marking the division between the two stories. The horizontal rail to the second floor is broken by three three-light casement windows, with lintels at eaves level. The central window has twenty panes per light, while the left and right windows have thirty panes per light, the side lights also being fixed. A dentilled band, possibly a later addition, runs below the sills. The right-hand side elevation has no windows. The rear elevation includes a two-light chamfered window, with sixteen leaded panes per light, and a single-light window above the vehicular entrance with an ovolo-moulded surround.

Inside, the first floor contains two rooms featuring two ovolo-moulded axial beams, ovolo-moulded mullions, and a large internal upright support to each window. A newel staircase to the rear has an octagonal newel and moulded finial. The attic retains original floorboards, two door frames, and post-and-wattle internal partitions. The roof is structured in three bays, with purlins trenched into principals, although the apex carpentry is not visible.