2 And 4, West Market Place

This building comprises two shops with offices and flats above, situated on the east side of West Market Place in Cirencester. It is composed of two distinct sections: the left-hand portion (No. 4) is late 18th or early 19th century, while the right-hand portion (No. 2) dates back to the late 17th or early 18th century, with alterations made in the early 19th century.

No. 4 presents a facade of limestone ashlar, currently painted, with coursed squared limestone rubble visible on the left side (formerly an internal wall), rear, and in a single-storey extension to the rear. It has a double mansard roof covered in Welsh slate, with artificial slate on the internal slopes, and a small gabled roof between the mansards incorporating corrugated asbestos. A single-storey rear extension is topped with a stone slate hipped roof. The front features ashlar stacks, while the right end has a concrete blockwork stack. The three-storey structure, with an attic and cellar, is arranged with a two-window range. The first floor has two 2/2, 6/6, and 2/2-pane triple sash windows, featuring stone mullions shaped as pilasters with paterae to the friezes. The second floor mirrors this design, although the paterae on the left are left uncarved. The ground floor has a shopfront dating from the 19th century, modified in the 20th century, with 2- and 3-light windows with leaf-topped and bottomed, moulded mullions, a cill, and a recessed glazed door beneath a C20 plastic fascia. A single flat-topped dormer and a C20 rooflight are positioned in the roof. Moulded stone eaves run to a coped parapet, with a lead pipe in the centre of the front.

No. 2, to the right, has a stuccoed front and rear over a timber frame. It also has an artificial slate roof and no visible stack. This three-storey building, with an attic and cellar, again has a two-window range. The first floor features two 6/6-pane sashes in reeded timber surrounds with roundel corners, and the second floor has two matching windows. The ground floor shopfront, dating from the 19th century and altered in the 20th, has plate glass windows and a door framed by broad pilasters, heavy console brackets, a frieze, and a modillion cornice. Two C20 rooflights are visible. Boxed-out eaves feature. The left-hand side of No.4 reveals a C20 exposed former internal wall, with C20 windows and a door to the ground floor. The rear of No. 4 has a 6/6-pane horned sash window to the first floor, two 3/6-pane sashes and one blind window to the second floor, and a single-storey extension with C20 windows and a door. There are two segmental-topped dormers with C20 top-hung windows. The rear of No. 2 is distinguished by an early 18th-century 6/6-pane sash window with a flat beaded surround, a keyed lintel, and a projecting cill, and a small single-light window to the first floor. Also present is a C20 glazed door in a C20 lean-to porch, and a C20 rooflight. A C20 plank door leads to the cellar, accessed by concrete steps.

The interior of the building has not been inspected. The exposed former internal wall of No. 4 is a C20 feature, revealed by the demolition of neighbouring buildings.