The Lion Buildings were built as a row of shops in 1840, having been commissioned by G. V. Maddox of Monmouth. The Lion buildings are also shown on the Ordnance Survey 25 inch map from 1882. The current shop fronts are large glass windows with polished granite facade. At the first floor level eight sash windows are set into recessed arches and has a decorative moulded beading at the window head level, and the second floor had eight small square sash window; the style is distinctly late Georgian, with a suggestion of Classical architecture with the use of the shallow arched aedicules and ornamental beading. The facade is painted cream with terracotta painted detail. At the south end of the Lion Buildings is a decorative stone and brick entrance to the market that is situated behind the buildings and was a later addition with a date of circa 1894; the archway is Gothic in style with a small window to the left-hand side. A plain cornice decorates underneath the eaves, which then rises to a slate roof. Towards the west end of the Lion Buildings is a ox-blood painted building called Lion House, which is so call as it is considered to have been the White Lion Public House, however the Town Plan map of 1880 and the Ordnance Survey 25 inch maps of 1882 show the White Lion to have been located a further two buildings south on Crane Street. Lion House is Georgian in appearance and predates the Lion Buildings, probably dating from the late 18th or early 19th century. At ground-floor level the Lion Building has a modern glass shop front, at first floor level on its north-east elevation has three Georgian sash windows and at second floor three smaller Georgian sashes with sills. The north-west elevation of Lion House is distinctly different to that of the north-east, at first floor level there are two large canted bay windows, with small pitched roofs, which rise from a decorative cornice, the second floor has two Georgian sash windows located to the southern end of the elevation.

Ross Cook, RCAHMW. 8th January 2013