28, 30 AND 32, ST MARY'S LANE

This is a terrace of three stocking-workers' cottages built in the middle to late 18th century. The properties are constructed of English bond brickwork with a tiled roof. A frame extension with painted horizontal boarding and a tiled roof projects from the rear of numbers 28 and 30. The cottages have been converted into modern homes but retain the wide first-floor window openings designed to maximize light for working. They are three storeys and attic in height, with a three-window front, although the attics have 1:2:1 two-light dormers. The second floor and ground floor windows are three-light horizontal bar casements, while the large first-floor windows are six-light casements with a central wooden mullion and small panes, all set within brick segmental arches. The front entrance has three plank doors, each under a segmental head, with a smaller plank door to a square-headed opening leading to a throughway on the far left. Brick string courses run along the front at first and second floor levels, and there are brick dentilled eaves. A square brick stack is located near the hipped right end. The right return has a single window, including a gabled dormer and three-light steel casements set within segmental brick heads. The left gable return displays a small attic light. A large boarded extension is visible at the rear. The interior has not been inspected. These cottages are important reminders of the town's earlier industrial past and are visually significant at a bend in St Mary's Lane, particularly for their retention of the original first-floor 'weaving' windows.