5, Foss Street

A shop with a house above, likely dating to the late 18th century, with possible origins in an earlier period. The building has undergone some later 19th and 20th century alterations. It is constructed of stone rubble with a plastered timber-framed front. A right-hand stack features a tall rendered chimneyshaft topped with old pots. The roof is slate.

The building's plan is one room wide and two rooms deep, with a passage to the left. The exterior is three stories high, with a two-window front. The plastered facade is designed to resemble ashlar. It has a late 19th-century timber shop front, with minor 20th-century alterations, featuring two plate-glass windows separated by a slender central glazing bar, and a doorway to the left with double, bottom-panelled, glazed doors and a plain overlight. A recessed doorway to the left of the shop front contains a six-panel door with a plain overlight. The windows are sash windows without glazing bars. The eaves are plain, positioned between taller adjoining buildings.

Inside, the joinery is primarily 19th century, including a stick-baluster staircase and panelled doors. There are no visible original carpentry features. The dropped levels of the ground and first floors suggest the core structure could be older than the 19th century.

Historically, Foss Street followed the line of a medieval dyke that created a tidal creek with a tidal mill. The mill pool was filled in and developed around 1820-30, though houses had been built along Foss Street from the 17th century onwards.