44, High Street

This is a shop and offices, likely dating to the early 19th century, although it may incorporate fabric of an earlier, possibly 18th-century, building. The building has rendered walls, probably of brick construction, and a slate roof with flat-roofed 20th-century additions at the rear. A red brick chimney stands on the right-hand gable.

Originally, the first-floor plan consisted of a single room width and three rooms in depth, with a stair compartment to the right and a small room to the left. The stairwell was lit from above, and the left-hand room had a side window. The rear section was narrow, its original layout uncertain, with a 20th-century staircase inserted to the ground floor. The second floor had a similar plan and may have originally had two front rooms. The building is three storeys high, with single-storey 20th-century additions to the rear.

The facade presents a three-window range. The ground storey has been altered in the 20th century, but a late 19th-century shop front cornice and flanking consoles remain. The second-floor windows are tall and have original sashes with 12 panes in the lower sashes and 8 in the upper, many of which retain original old glass. The two outer windows on the third floor have 20th-century wood casements, while the centre window is blind. A parapet is present above, featuring a raised band. A notable feature is an early or mid-18th-century barred sash window in the north side wall of the second floor, characterized by thick, ovolo-moulded glazing bars. It is possible this window was brought from elsewhere, though it suggests the presence of 18th-century fabric in the building.

The interior of the ground storey was largely remodelled in the 20th century. The upper storeys retain original features of considerable interest, particularly the stairwell. The wooden staircase originally descended from the ground storey, featuring treads with thin, square-section balusters of a lightly moulded design, continuing to the gallery balustrade at the top. It now has a 20th-century newel post at the bottom. An oval, coved skylight is fitted with a moulded plaster surround.

The 2nd-storey landing has a moulded cornice. Doorways to the left-hand and rear rooms have moulded architraves with square panels in the top corners, the rear room also retaining its original six-panelled door. The third-storey doorways to the front and rear rooms are similarly treated, and include the original door to the rear room. A blocked, segmental-headed opening with bead-moulding formerly led to the left-hand room. The 2nd-storey front room has a moulded cornice and is sub-divided in the 20th century. A moulded architrave sits above the door between the front and left-hand middle rooms. Within the right-hand front room of the third storey, the gable wall has a 19th-century wood chimneypiece with shaped wood brackets supporting the mantel shelf. The roof structure is inaccessible.