The Post Office

The Post Office

This is a shop with two storeys and cellar, constructed of red brick with a slate roof. The roof features an iron crested Gothic ridge, a projecting brick stack to the side wall, and a brick corner stack to the rear left. The building is distinguished by unusually decorative bargeboards in a repeated "S" pattern with button ornament, a tall moulded finial, and a pendant. A square dressed date stone bearing the initials "HP" and the date "1868" is set in a quatrefoil recess.

The shop front is symmetrical, with a moulded cornice and fascia featuring a saw-tooth band over three-light windows and a splayed central entrance. Fascia-end scroll brackets are tied with a fruit festoon. The windows have lamb's tongue moulded timber mullions and a moulded timber cill (renewed in 1990), with a dressed stone stall riser. A plain overlight sits over the glazed double doors, with a stone step to the right which is heavily worn. Large-paned sash windows with dressed stone heads and cills run throughout the front elevation, including a front gable sash with side lights. A George V wall letter-box is set in a brick pier attached to the left front.

The attached house is two storeys, constructed of red brick on a plinth, arranged as an L-shaped block with slate roofs and iron crested Gothic ridges. Brick stacks with oversailing, dentil courses, and decorative cream clay pots are positioned at the central ridge, to the rear of the house, and to the rear gable end of the wing. Ornate pierced quatrefoil bargeboards with moulded finials and pendants finish the gable ends, and a small gable overhangs the central window. Moulded iron guttering with lion-head decoration runs around the eaves. The front elevation has three symmetrical large-paned sash windows with dressed stone heads and cills.

A doorcase with timber columns and a moulded cornice leads to a four-panelled door beneath a plain overlight. The north-west gable end displays a square dressed stone inset with a carved shield, and contains four irregular sash windows—the bottom left with side lights and two small sashes to the right with margin glazing. The rear wing features a splayed corner to the roadside, which continues as a brick roadside wall with distinctive battlements and dressed copings.

Intersecting cast-iron railings formed of round arches between main uprights with ball finials are set on low brick forecourt walls with dressed stone copings. A central gate features a very ornate pierced foliage panel, with a similar smaller gate to the left side.

The outbuildings include a two-storey red brick block attached to the rear gable end of the shop, with a slate roof and dentil eases. A plank door sits to the right of centre with a tall plank loft door above. This building was formerly used by a corn merchant and feed supplier; the sack hoist survives in situ. A detached two-storey red brick block with a slate roof and central gable served as a coach house and stables, with veterinary supplies occupying the first floor in two rooms fitted with shelves and counters. The block features plank doors, shuttered windows, and a slit ventilator to the stable. To the rear of the house stands a two-storey red brick outhouse with a slate roof, which retains a bread oven, hot water copper, and a carved stone sink.

The shop interior is arranged as an open plan with opposing counters. The 1868 shop fittings survive intact, including shelves, drawers for herbal products and remedies, open shelving partitioned with turned spindle supports, and counters with panelled fronts divided by pilaster strips. The right-hand counter has an inset brass measure, with a yardstick in its original fitted holder behind. A window to the centre right opens through to the house; to the rear is a Gothic-arched plank door with steps rising to the first floor, which has a turned newel. To the rear left is a plank and glazed office partition. Rows of iron rods for hangings are suspended from the ceiling. The side windows have moulded architraving and panelled shutters. A moulded ceiling cornice runs around the space, with cast iron columns at the corners of the front window splay. A 1914 wooden telephone kiosk stands within.

The general stores originally incorporated ground-floor departments for drapery, haberdashery, medicinal products, household goods, and groceries. The first floor contained an undertaker's showroom selling coffin linings and shrouds, with a separate room for customer consultations.