5-5A Well Street

This is a large, asymmetrical building dating from the 18th century, situated on Well Street. The front facade is two storeys with attics, featuring five irregular windows. A rear staircase projection and wing extend from the main block. The front is faced with lined stucco on a plinth, while the rear elevation is brick on a stone plinth. The roof is hipped with swept slate coverings, topped by two clustered brick stacks – one at the ridge and one at the right end – featuring a saw-tooth band; a dentilled eaves cornice runs along the roofline. Rusticated quoin strips accentuate the corners, and the window openings have wedge lintels. Four gabled attic dormers are present, each with a plain-glazed two-light wooden casement and weather-boarded gables. The ground and first floors feature wooden cross-windows, replacing original small-pane sashes, which are irregularly spaced, but aligned on each floor. The main entrance is located to the right of the centre, with an inset, half-glazed wooden door and a two-pane overlight; a steel sign bracket is positioned above the door. A single window is to the left of the entrance, and two windows are to the right. A shop front to the far left features a moulded cornice, a half-glazed panelled door with small-pane glazing, and an overlight with iron scrollwork grille. A large two-light shop window is to the left, retaining glazing bars to the upper sash. The west end of the building is constructed of brick and includes a gabled attic dormer. The east end is stuccoed with a string course; a stack breaks through the eaves cornice, and two-light plain-glazed wooden casements, each with a wedge lintel, are offset to the left of each storey.

The rear elevation is symmetrical, showcasing a central gabled staircase projection and an adjoining wing. The rear features wooden cross-windows, as the front, with segmental brick heads and two windows to either side of the projection. To the left, a stone basement storey has been converted into a shop, with a glazed door reached by steps and a plain-glazed window to the right; a gabled attic dormer is present. To the right of the rear wing, the first-floor windows have flat brick heads. A brick lean-to, formerly a butcher's shop, is situated below, with a door to the left and a window to the right. The left-hand return of the staircase projection has stair-lights at two levels, small two-light casements, and a small attic window within the gable. A lower, two-storey gabled wing, likely a later service unit, is set below. Its left-hand return incorporates an inserted late 20th-century doorway to the far left, a cross-window, and a two-light casement to the upper storey. An external end stack, now out of use, contains a small window to each storey.

The interior includes a fine open-well staircase within the rear projection, likely dating from the late 17th century, exhibiting barley twist balusters, a moulded handrail, and square moulded newels with stepped caps, extending up to the attic storey. The basement features medium-chamfered spine-beams and open box-panelled partitions, potentially of the same period; original windows were once present in this space.