2-12, Castle Street

This is a range of shops and offices built in 1896 by John Birch of London for Earl Bathurst. The building stands along Castle Street, with a splayed corner leading to the Market Place. It is constructed from coursed squared limestone with a clay tile roof and features nine stacks, one pair being diagonally-set ashlar flues on a corbelled-out base.

The long range, 16 windows wide, has eleven gables facing Castle Street, one to the splayed corner, and one to the Market Place. The first floor has thirteen windows, some with ovolo-moulded stone mullions and transom lights, others featuring leaded upper lights and decorative stone sills. Two three-light oriel windows are present, with moulded stone bases and parapets. A large two-storey oriel window is centrally located on the left, also with a moulded base and an embattled parapet. The second floor mirrors the first, with chamfered stone mullion windows of varying sizes, 1-, 2-, and 3-light.

The ground floor currently contains five late 20th-century shopfronts. Three historic three-light stone mullion-and-transom windows are visible within the Post Office on the left, with segmental arched heads. There are two 20th-century doors within moulded stone surrounds to the Post Office, and a historic part-glazed six-panel door in a Tudor-arched stone surround with a wrought-iron gate providing access to a rear passage. Another pair of historic plank doors, adorned with decorative strap hinges, are located centrally under the oriel window, also within a Tudor-arched stone surround.

A deep plinth with a moulded top runs along the base, and moulded strings above the ground, first, and second floors create hoods over the openings. The gables possess moulded copings, with finials and ball finials on the gables and parapet. A datestone marked “1896” is visible on the Post Office, while the downpipes, also dated 1896, are square in section with castellated hoppers. A further datestone in the gable on the splayed corner displays the initial “B” and the date 1897. The return elevation to the Market Place is similar in style, featuring a three-light oriel window on the first floor. The interiors remain uninspected.