Dealer in coffee and teas

I was walking across from the Optician to the swimming pool, where the car was parked, and on the way took a photo of another of Appleby’s Boroughgate buildings.

This is number 28 and is on the corner of High Wiend, one of the narrow alleys that could be easily closed to raiders. It is a quaint building which has housed several kinds of shops, even in the time I have lived here, but is currently a charity shop.

The building is dated as mid-18th century and there is evidence of it having been at one time an apothecary’s - the mortar above the door, the pestle is missing. It was also once the premises of a dealer in coffee and tea, as can be seen in the lettering, also above the door. There is access to the cellars from High Wiend, as you can see, so would have been used for storage.

The building has walls of ashlar (smooth blocks of stone) and its main feature is the stone canopy above the door (see extra). This is made of four pieces of stone which form a semi-circular shelter. These Westmorland hoods were a feature of the area and other buildings still have the outline marking where they were once fixed.

A lovely afternoon for walking through the town and by the river.