Another unusual feature is the chimney which is both large and central to the building. This is unusual for a building of this width - normally chimneys on smaller buildings are on one or other end rather than central - so perhaps the fire was also central to the trade carried on here? Perhaps a forge, or bakery? I don't know, but suggest there was a practical reason for the positioning of the fire in the centre of the building, right behind the front entrance.

A later change is evident when looking at the photo from 1947 (below), which shows the first floor windows were originally smaller and lower, with the sills at the same level as the base of the display alcove. Also the brick lintels used to match those of the ground floor, but have been removed so the window heads now go to eaves height. The photo also shows that the old windows were hinged from the central post rather than from the side frame which is more common.

The windows and door have been replaced and are now plastic, clearly a more recent change.

One other anomaly is that this house is number 33, whereas the house to the right is no.29. What happened to no.31? I don't know when the numbering of houses in Castle street was established, so don't know the reason for the missing no.31.


1947 photo

The 1947 photo shows that there is nice stonework under the current surface pointing. My own opinion is that the property would look so much better after a sympathetic repointing, along with a more traditional door design (don't mean to offend, just saying!).