55, High Street

This is a late 16th-century merchant's house, likely originally of the “deux corps de batiments” type, but now lacking its rear kitchen block. It was remodelled and given a new facade in the earlier to mid-18th century. The building is three storeys high with a dormer, and has two windows. It has a hipped roof covered in Welsh slate. The front is timber-framed and slate-hung, with a modillion eaves cornice and a moulded string course at the second floor level, carried around the west return, which forms the west end of the Butterwalk. A square-headed dormer is present. The windows are architraved sashes with glazing bars; the first-floor windows have strings that project forward to form cornices, while the first-floor window on the west return is blocked. A ground-floor loggia, supported by cast iron columns bearing an entablature, extends over the pavement. The ground floor retains a 16th-century panelled door leading to a side passage, with an ovolo-moulded surround and a rectangular fanlight. A similar door from the shop also leads to the passage, which contains a 16th-century muntin and plank partition with carved stiles. There is a modern shop front. Inside, there is an open 18th-century staircase with closed strings, a boxed-in balustrade, square newels, and a ramped-up handrail. A panelled hall dado is also present. The front room on the first floor has earlier to mid-18th-century panelling, a boxed-out cornice, and a bolection-moulded over-panel to the chimneypiece. The ceiling has decorative ribwork. The building is designated Grade II* for the exceptional quality of its interior.