Olde Malsters

Olde Malsters is a townhouse with origins in the medieval period, and it is attached to No. 9 on one side. The building is constructed of stone, with some areas scored-stucco rendered and others painted. It has a hipped slate roof with a tall brick corniced stack on one side and another stack at the rear gable end. The house extends over two storeys and has an attic. The front elevation facing New Market Street retains a chamfered Tudor-arched stone doorway with a slate hood. A projecting gable end features a range of 12-pane horned sash windows in reveals. The side elevation, which fronts onto a passage, shows significant alterations and adaptations.

Under the eaves near the front is an extended two-light mullioned window, likely of early origin, comprising two arched lights within a rectangular frame with spandrels, set in a small corbelled-out bay adjacent to the external stack. Beyond the stack, the wall is recessed, with a brick blocking before projecting forward again. At head height on the left side is a small medieval pointed light cut into a single stone block, with a hole for tracery. There is also a rectangular stone window from a similar early period, exhibiting vestigial moulding, along with two later upper wooden casement windows and a wide 20th-century ground floor casement window. The rear of the property is stepped back, revealing a wing with an upper casement window featuring a very deep hoodmould and stops. The rear gable end has a blocked stair window, providing access to an interior stone stair.

The house retains Tudor-arched passage doorways at the front and rear, along with a three-arched stone screen featuring two Tudor-arched doorways and a doorway with a three-centred head. The rear ground floor room, now a kitchen, displays remains of cruck trusses and a stone fireplace with a mason-mitred lintel. A stone stair rises to attic level (the visible upper storeys, with modern stairs providing access to the attic). The front room contains a fine stone fireplace with a moulded surround and a blocked round-headed window. The roof trusses are a mix of construction types: mortise-and-tenon joints towards the rear and lapped and notched joints towards the front.