20-21 Castle Street

This is a substantial, two-storey house with attics, dating from the 18th century, with a later cross-wing. The main range is three bays wide, with a prominent gabled porch wing positioned centrally, and a cross-wing projecting to the left (formerly number 21). The main range is rendered and lined, standing on a plinth and covered by a slate roof, featuring brick stacks; a large, clustered stack marks the angle between the main range and cross-wing, while a diagonally-set stack is located to the right, slightly behind the ridge, and a tall stack stands at the left end, where numbers 21 and 22 join. The open porch reaches the ground floor, supported by two Ionic columns on tall moulded sandstone bases, and features a moulded and dentilated jetty bressumer. Inside the porch is a moulded wooden doorcase, encompassing an old boarded door. Above the jetty, on the first floor and into the attic, is a two-light wooden casement with quarry glazing, likely dating from the early 19th century; single lights flank the porch on the first floor. The gable displays cusped barge boards and a finial. The ground floor to the right of the porch has a cross-window with quarry glazing; to the left, a lean-to features a wide 16-pane horned sash window, slightly projecting into the porch. The upper storey contains two-light casements with quarry glazing, flanking the porch; the attic has a small dormer to the left, with a hipped swept roof and a four-pane window. The cross-wing has a hipped swept roof, with its openings arranged asymmetrically. A pedimented doorcase, complete with panelled pilasters, sits to the right, containing a six-panel door with glazed upper panels; a narrow 12-pane hornless sash is on the left. The upper storey has a two-light small-pane casement offset to the right of the centre.

Number 22 projects from the return wall of this wing, meaning there’s no visible facade detail externally, but the roof pitch reveals two raked attic dormers with two-light casements. To the rear, the cross-wing is advanced to the right, also with a hipped swept roof. A slightly advanced four-window block with a hipped roof sits across the centre. A gabled service wing adjoins the rear of number 18 to the left. The advanced blocks are roughcast with horned sash windows. The cross-wing has a large 16-pane sash window on the ground floor, and a 12-pane sash on the upper storey, offset to the right. The central block features a flat-roofed porch with narrow columns to the right, housing a half-glazed panelled door under a gothic overlight with intersecting glazing; a 16-pane sash window sits to the left. The first floor has four evenly-spaced 12-pane sashes; the attic has a central dormer with a hipped roof containing a two-light small-pane casement. The service wing to the left is one-and-a-half storeys high, rendered and covered by a slate roof with a tall brick ridge stack. A two-light small-pane casement is present in the gable, below which is a small added stone block. The north side displays a panelled door and a further gable with a cross-window. The interior was not inspected.