Survey Data
Reg No
41303095
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Social
Original Use
Post office
In Use As
Post office
Date
1905 - 1960
Coordinates
267102, 333757
Date Recorded
03/10/2011
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Attached four-bay single-storey post office, built 1908, raised to two storeys in 1955 and having six-bay two-storey return to rear of c.1970. Single-storey outbuildings to rear. Middle bays project slightly to ground floor. Pitched slate roof hidden by projecting ashlar limestone parapet, with red brick chimneystacks, and cast-iron rainwater goods. Red brick Flemish bond walling to ground floor, with limestone band to import level, pilasters to each end of middle bays above sill level and having moulded sill, fascia and moulded cornice with dentils. Raised metal lettering 'Oifig an Phoist' to fascia. Ashlar plinth course to front. First floor has yellower brick and return has red brick. Square-headed window openings to first floor with alternating limestone and brick voussoirs, concrete sills and replacement uPVC windows. Ground floor openings have similar voussoirs to square-headed timber window to east bay having limestone sill, and segmental-arched tripartite timber windows to middle bays. Square-headed door opening with limestone block-and-start architrave, overlight, and timber panelled door. Outbuildings have lean-to slate roofs, red brick walls, square-headed openings with metal windows and timber battened doors. Petrol pump of c.1950 to yard.
Appraisal
This post office displays many finely executed architectural details, particularly to the middle bays, with fine ashlar limestone work and classical detailing. The use of brick and limestone in combination adds interest to the building and to the streetscape. The symmetry and some details were carried through when the building was raised to two storeys in the mid-twentieth century. It is a building of notable social importance. The retention of outbuildings and of a mid-twentieth-century petrol pump adds to the significance of the location.