The Minstrels' Gallery

The Minstrels' Gallery is a shop dating from the 17th century, located on the north side of The Square in Hawkshead. The building is constructed of roughcast stone and features a slate roof. It stands two storeys high and has four bays, with the fourth bay set back. There is a slate drip course at the ground floor level.

On the ground floor, the first bay has a casement window with an iron opening light, while the third and fourth bays have leaded casements. The first floor includes sash windows with glazing bars, except for the third bay, which has a small-paned casement. The entrance is marked by an open slate gabled porch that shelters a six-fielded-panel door. The building has two lateral stacks: a squat cross-axial stack and paired gable-end stacks to the left, which adjoins a chapel.

The right side of the building features a jettied first floor supported on three arched braces, with two casement windows and a projecting window that has two mullions, a transom, and an opening light. To the right, the first floor projects over a passage leading to Vicarage Lane. The rear of the building has a stone stair leading to the first bay above the passage, while the second bay has a jettied first floor and a light with leaded glazing. The third bay projects and includes a stair window above a small light, and the fourth bay is weatherboarded, with the fifth bay featuring casement windows.

Inside, the building has chamfered beams and partitions made of stud and plaster. The dog-leg stair has turned balusters and nave newels. The first floor includes an alcove with a screen made of two tiers of turned balusters. A rear window, now covered by a later extension, originally had a four-light wood chamfered-mullioned frame, with each light containing two intermediate bars and leaded glazing that is plastered over on the outside.