55, 55A AND 56, BOUTPORT STREET

This building comprises a range of houses, dating from the 17th century with alterations in the early 18th century. The front is rendered, while the rear wall is of stone rubble. It has a tarred slated roof with a brick chimney on the ridge, slightly left of centre, and another behind the ridge at the right-hand end, set diagonally. The building is two storeys with a garret, featuring an eight-window range. The ground floor has three late 20th-century shop fronts. The upper floor’s three left-hand windows contain late 20th-century wood casements designed to resemble sash windows, each with six panes. The five right-hand windows contain plain sashes in recessed box frames. A boxed eaves cornice with closely-spaced brackets runs along the top. Above the five right-hand windows are a pair of hipped dormers, each flanked by panelled pilasters and featuring a two-light wood casement with six panes per light.

Inside No. 55, there is an ovolo-moulded ceiling beam on the ground floor, and the foot of a late 20th-century roof truss is visible upstairs. The two right-hand shops have no visible earlier features, and the rooms above them were not inspected. The building is of group value.