The Gables

The Gables is a house dating from the 16th and 17th centuries, with possible remnants of an earlier roof that may have belonged to a hall house. It is constructed from coursed and squared limestone and has a stone slate roof. The building is situated at a corner and may have originally extended further to the left into what is now the Old Inn in George Court. The layout features a through passage, although it is difficult to interpret overall.

The house has two storeys and attics, with two coped gables. The left gable features a single light window above a three-light window, which is above a four-light window, and then another three-light window, all with ovolo-moulded stone mullions and stopped hoods. The gable lights have a full-width drip-mould, and there is a continuous drip-mould under the first-floor window on the right side. A central arched opening leads to a plank and fillet door that has a keystone above the arch. There are two stone stacks, and the roofs are at differing levels.

At the back, there is a central 17th-century plank door with nail-head detailing and two gables, the right gable having similar fenestration to the front. Inside, the dining room features heavy chamfered beams. The sitting room has a large square fireplace opening from the 16th century with a moulded stopped surround, and built into the party wall is a deep moulded transverse beam from the same period. The ceiling joists are also chamfered and stopped. One upper room contains another 16th-century square fireplace opening with a moulded mantel shelf and geometrical drops with lozenges, along with a decorative shallow relief plaster ceiling. There is a small blocked light facing northeast. The first-floor level has surviving 16th-century plaster ceilings that were revealed after the removal of 20th-century partitions. The roof retains much of its early timber, including two pairs of heavy arch-braced principals, one of which may have belonged to an open hall, with chamfered arch braces. The Gables is an important historical survival in the town center.