Numbers 1 And 2 Well Houses

Numbers 1 and 2 Well Houses are a pair of houses located on Well Houses Lane in Wortley, dating from the mid-17th century and mid-18th century. They are constructed of rubble sandstone and thinly-coursed sandstone, with roofs made of sheet asbestos and stone slate. The 17th-century house on the left is two storeys high, consisting of a single room with an outshut. The 18th-century section on the right is set forward, featuring an L-shaped plan with an outshut in the rear angle, also two storeys with attics and three windows on the first floor.

The 17th-century house has large quoins on the left side. It features a partly-quoined doorway to the left with a wooden lintel, and a former four-light double-chamfered mullioned window to the right, which has been reduced to two lights with only a central mullion remaining. There is a small window beneath the eaves and a chimney pot at the left end of the ridge. The rear of this house includes a two-light double-chamfered window, though the mullion has been removed.

The 18th-century house also has large quoins. Its central doorway is adorned with a projecting keystone on the lintel and a plain dripstone band. There is another doorway on the left with a plain ashlar surround. The 20th-century casements flanking the central door have projecting stone sills; the left window features a flat-arched head while the right has a plain lintel. On the first floor, there is a band with two windows mirroring the ground floor, flanking a narrow central window with a flat arch. The gables have shaped kneelers and chamfered copings, with a central ridge stack that includes a band.

The left return has a two-light square-faced attic window that is now blocked, while the right return continues the band and features a blind attic window. Inside the 17th-century house, there is a bressumer beam with a cut-out for a door head, a stop-chamfered spine beam, and an arcade post adjacent to the end wall of the later house, which has a brace to the arcade plate and supports an old principal rafter truss. The position of the arcade post indicates that the 17th-century house was truncated by the 18th-century addition.

Historically, the property was owned by Francis Wood, who in 1713 donated forty pounds secured on an estate called Wellhouse in the Lordship of Wortley. This charity is still in operation today, providing £2 annually for the poor of Wortley, known as the "Wellhouse Dole."