39 Westgate Street

This is a shop and dwelling, initially built in the late 16th century as the eastern half of a two-bay building. It was extended to the rear shortly after its construction, and the front range was rebuilt in the early 19th century. The building has been renovated in the 21st century.

The front block is constructed of red brick laid in Flemish and English Garden Wall bonds and painted on the main elevation. The upper floors of the 16th-century rear range have a timber frame and are rendered, with a first-floor jetty on the west side of Bull Lane, which is underpinned by brick. The building has a slate roof.

The property stands at the corner of Westgate Street and Bull Lane. It is a narrow, linear structure, comprising the 19th-century block facing Westgate Street and the 16th-century range facing Bull Lane.

The main elevation to Westgate Street is a single bay and three storeys high. The ground floor has a late 20th-century shopfront with a recessed entry on the left, and a plain panel fascia above. The two upper floors each contain a one-over-one horned sash window in a flat-arched opening with stepped-and-raised voussoirs and a projecting stone sill. Above this is a moulded cornice and a high brick parapet. The front range of the Bull Lane elevation is blind brick, with a rendered base. To the left are two surviving timber-framed bays from the 16th century. These feature a jettied first floor supported by two timber posts with knee braces and brick infill, with brick underpinning. The projecting timber-framed first floor has a close-studded rendered elevation. Replacement windows in the 21st century are set within irregular openings. A 20th-century bay is located on the south-westernmost side along Bull Lane, adjacent to the timber-framed range. The pitched roof, which has a hip at the north-east end, is hidden by the parapet.

Inside the 19th-century front range, the shop unit has modern finishes, although a chamfered storey post is thought to survive. The upper floors contain early 19th-century features such as reeded plaster cornices, moulded architraves, panelled doors, and skirtings. A timber-framed partition within the front range of the adjacent number 41 is concealed by modern finishes.

The interior of the 16th-century rear range exposes various timbers, including part of the southern truss, which predates the 19th-century raising of the roof. A fireplace and a small cupboard are located on the north wall, likely dating to the 18th century. A staircase built during the 19th-century redevelopment was removed in the 21st century to reveal a scheme of wall paintings depicting an oak-panelled dado and a tapestry above, which have since been conserved.