43 and 45 Westgate Street (the Sword Inn)

43 and 45 Westgate Street (the Sword Inn)

These two adjoining buildings originated as domestic and commercial premises in the 16th century and underwent later alterations. Both are timber-framed with rendered facades and brick chimney stacks. Number 43 has a tiled roof, while number 45 is slate-covered. Both buildings have linear plans and front north-east onto Westgate Street, running at right angles to the south-west.

Number 43, on the left, is a single-bay building of three storeys with a cellar. The principal elevation is the gable end of the pitched-roof range. The first floor features a central five-light timber-framed casement, and the second floor has a similar three-light casement. Most casement lights contain a single central horizontal glazing bar. A plain bargeboard runs along the gable.

Number 45, on the right, is three window bays wide with three storeys and an attic. A polite stuccoed facade conceals the gable end of the earlier building beneath. The upper floors are plain stuccoed with a moulded crowning cornice and parapet. Windows on the first and second floors are six-over-six sashes with architraves and projecting sills; the attic has a three-over-six sash. The facade extends beyond the attic gable, so the outer sashes on the third floor are false, painted onto blockwork. The central sash on the second floor is also false.

The ground floor of both sides was remodelled in the late 20th century, creating a half-glazed, panelled frontage to the public bar, with the bar room doorway in number 45. A 19th-century fascia flanked by shaped brackets appears on number 45.

Internally, a small lobby within number 45's footprint contains joists and timbers that may relate to the original jettied facade; similar timbers in the front bays of both buildings suggest the building line was constructed outward from the jetty.

The ground floor of number 43 is open plan with occasional exposed posts and deep cross beams, some of which have been renewed. The bar runs along the left side with an oak countertop and ornate front featuring carved panels with foliate and geometric mouldings and masks. Upper floors have their timber framing almost entirely concealed by 20th-century linings. The cellar is mostly brick-walled, though some portions in stone rubble may be medieval.

The front two bays of number 45 form part of the bar room, where the party wall with number 43 has been removed. A single post from the timber frame remains, concealed by later cladding. Exposed posts, beams, and joists are visible, including replacements and reinforcements. Upper floors have framing mostly hidden behind 20th-century linings. The attic room in the rear wing displays exposed, chamfered and jowelled corner posts to the gable-end wall and part of an arched brace to the principal rafter on the west side of an intermediate truss, otherwise concealed within the roof space. An extensive cellar contains 18th-century brick barrel vaults and some stone rubble walling that may form part of an earlier, medieval cellar.