48, Fore Street

No. 48 Fore Street is a later 16th century or early 17th century merchant's house of the "deux corps de batiments" type. The gallery and back block were rebuilt around 1914. The building has three storeys and an attic, with two windows on the top floor. It features a Welsh slate roof with an old stack that has been heightened in red brick. The gabled front has panelled bargeboards, and the masonry party walls are made of Devonian limestone with moulded granite corbels from former jetties. The timber-framed front was renewed in the late 19th century, showcasing jettied first and second floors, while the gable is slate-hung. The first and second floors are rendered, and the ground floor is stucco with a late 19th century tiled shop front. The attic and second floor have architraved sash windows with glazing bars, and the first floor features a splayed oriel window with sashes and a cornice. The second floor jetty retains its original moulded bressumer. The shop window has large panes, and the house doorway is architraved with a dentil cornice and a panelled door, accessed by steps. Inside, there are good Elizabethan plaster ceilings in the second floor room with rib patterns and enriched foliated beams, which were formerly part of the fore-chamber of the original house. The first floor front room, which was the former fore-hall of the original house, has a fine Jacobean plaster ceiling with strapwork decoration and enriched beams. The building is listed as Grade II* for its interior and group value.