The Probate Office

The Probate Office is a building constructed from rubble stone with Bath stone dressings, topped with a slate roof featuring coped gables and a chimney on the left side. The eaves are close, and the brown rubble stone is laid in irregular courses, complemented by Bath stone quoins, flush rusticated window surrounds, and first-floor relieving arches. A moulded string course runs over the ground floor, with a broad band that extends just below the window and door heads, while a lower string course steps over the heads, acting as hoodmoulds. The ground and first floor feature triple plate glass sash windows with stone mullions in the left and center bays, and there is a door in a chamfered surround on the ground floor right, with a hoodmould stepping up over a plaque commemorating Queen Victoria from 1879. Above this door, there is a 2-light window on the first floor. The first-floor windows are adorned with ashlar relieving arches, while the second floor has paired smaller sashes with shouldered heads and mullions.

The entrance features double panelled doors with a rectangular overlight, and there are ventilation grates in the plinth and at the ground floor sill level. The left-hand return of the building is cement rendered. The rear, constructed from rubble stone, has three storeys and close eaves, with all but one window being modern, and a 4-panel door to the left. To the right, there is a two-storey wing that retains some original doors and windows, along with three small brick lean-to additions that were previously toilets and storerooms.

Inside, the tall inner door is half-glazed and includes side-lights, top-lights, and marginal glazing bars. The hallway features a depressed arch with impost blocks and scrolled leaf capitals. Moulded plaster ceiling margins and cornices are present throughout, along with stairs that have scrolled tread ends, straight balusters, and simple newels. False ceilings conceal the original ceilings with plaster cornices. Moulded skirting boards are found throughout the building. While fireplaces have been removed, some doorways and windows feature chamfered and stopped surrounds, and on the second floor, some doors have simply decorated uprights above. In the rear wing, the wills room on the ground floor has five brick-arched bays and a flagstone floor.