3 And 5, Castle Street

Nos. 3 and 5 Castle Street is a shop with office and storage space above, dating from the late 18th century but with origins in the 17th century and later alterations. The front is finished in painted limestone ashlar and stucco, while the roof is made of stone slate on the right and artificial slate on the left. There is a shared brick ridge stack with No. 7 Castle Street.

The shop consists of two buildings: the left side is 2-storey with an attic and has a 2-window range that originates from the 17th century. The right side is a 3-storey, 2-window range built as one with No. 7. The first floor features two 3-light 20th-century leaded windows on the left and two 19th-century plate glass horned sash windows on the right. The second floor on the right has two 20th-century two-light casements, while the left side has two gabled dormers with 20th-century two-light leaded casements. The ground floor has a 20th-century shopfront from around the 1930s, made of timber with plate glass windows, bronze glazing bars, and a polished black stall riser. To the far left, there is a door with six flush panels in a beaded timber surround.

Inside, there are two 20th-century oak staircases connecting the ground to the first floor and the first to the second floor, along with 20th-century oak shop fittings on the ground floor. The ground floor has boxed-out beams, while the first floor on the right features four rough beams without chamfers. The roof structure on the left is from the 19th century, over the remaining principals of two trusses from an earlier, likely 17th-century roof with a steeper pitch; there are no collars or purlins remaining. Evidence of a ridge purlin and mortices in the truss on the left suggests the presence of butt purlins, with black deposits around the mortice possibly indicating smoke-blackening. The range on the right has a 5-bay roof structure at the rear, partially from the 18th century, with some trenched and threaded purlins, heavily repaired in the 19th and 20th centuries with a plank ridge. Three bays of a similar roof with a plank ridge are partially visible in the front range.