4, Market Street

This is a house with a shop, now used entirely as a shop and workshop. It may date back to the 16th century or earlier, with significant enlargement during the 16th century. Subsequent alterations occurred in the 18th and 19th centuries, and a rear wing was added at some point. The building is constructed of rendered stone rubble, except for the front wall which is rendered timber-framing. It has a slate roof, hipped on the right-hand side, and a large rendered chimney with a tapered cap.

The original layout was a double-depth plan, one room wide. A rear range, originally extending into the adjacent property, has a rear wall that is 0.69m thick and may be medieval. A second range was built in front of this during the 16th century, with ceiling beams on the upper storey 25cm higher than those at the rear; this range did not extend into the current boundary with the adjacent property, which may have contained the original house entrance.

The front of the building is three storeys high and has a two-window front. The right-hand side wall corbels out at the second-floor level. The ground floor features a ten-paned bow window. A half-glazed plank door is located to the left, the upper portion of which is now painted over. An entablature is present at first-floor level, altered in the late 20th century to accommodate a shop sign. The upper floors are punctuated by four-paned sash windows with horns, set within a boxed eaves cornice. The exposed side wall to the right is one window wide. A projecting shop front has a centre door and an entablature, with upper-storey windows and eaves cornice matching the main front.

Inside, the ground floor appears to have obscured original features beneath plaster and boarding. The upper floor retains 16th-century moulded beams, some of which have been cut short and replaced with 20th-century steel girders. A butt end of a beam protrudes through from the adjacent property. In the front room, a similar beam has been treated, along with the remains of a half-beam that formerly separated the front and back rooms. Complete half-beams remain against the left side wall; their mouldings are similar to those in the rear part, but with the addition of an ogee. A painted depiction of a 16th-century sailing ship, featuring at least two masts, is on the plaster of the left side wall. It is notable for its age, with sections overlaid by old plaster. Within the rear corner of the wing is a chimney containing a re-used 16th-century stone window with two moulded round-arched lights.

A separate description notes that the projecting frontage was restored in the 18th century or earlier. The façade is cement-rendered and three storeys high. The return wall has a splayed corbel at the second-floor level, and the shop windows are low, one bowed and one with a pentice.