5-8, Winckley Street

PRESTON

SD5329SE WINCKLEY STREET 941-1/11/306 (East side) 27/09/79 Nos.5-8 (Consecutive) (Formerly Listed as: WINCKLEY STREET No.7)

GV II

Row of 4 town houses, now offices. c.1800, altered. Red brick in 4+1 English garden wall bond, with sandstone dressings and slate roof. Rectangular double-depth plan, each house single-fronted. Three storeys over cellars, with 7 windows at 1st floor (2, 1, 1 and 3). Each house has the doorway to the left, all square-headed with moulded architraves, set-in steps, and recessed panelled doors, No.5 with an overlight immediately above the door, but those to Nos.6, 7 and 8 taller with lintels between the doors and the overlights; and immediately left of that to No.8 is a lobby doorway with plain surround. Each has a cellar window with wedge lintel (those to Nos.5 and 8 now blocked); at ground floor Nos.5, 6, and 7 have large square windows, with raised sills, rectangular lintels and altered glazing, and No.8 has 2 tall top-hung casements with glazing bars; at 1st and 2nd floors all have sashed windows with raised sills and wedge lintels, but the glazing differs (4 and 6 panes at No.5; 4 and 12 at No.6; 16 and 12 at No.7; 12 and 9 at No.8). Ridge chimneys. Above the door of No.7 is a stone plaque inscribed "Francis Joseph Thompson/ Was Born in this House/ Dec.18. 1859"; and to the right a larger bronze plaque with a bust and an inscription identifying him as the poet, giving the date as Dec.16, and ending with the lines "Ever and anon a trumpet sounds/ From the hid battlements of Eternity" (from "The Hound of Heaven"). INTERIOR: 2-room cellars (No.7 with fireplace in front and stone table in rear); stick-baluster staircases; batten-and-board doors, built-in cupboards, and reed ceilings at top floor of No.7.

Listing NGR: SD5381829249