St Mary'S House And Attached Wall

St Mary's House and Attached Wall

A house, now in office use, situated in the south-east angle of the medieval close wall at Lichfield, with an attached hexagonal stair turret positioned at that angle. The attached wall extends approximately 42 metres to the foundations of the east turret of the south gate.

The building originates from the early 14th century, with the house itself dating to that period or earlier. It underwent substantial alteration and extension around 1710 to create an L-shaped plan, followed by an infill range added around 1805 that converted it to a rectangular plan. Extensive further alterations were carried out in the 1860s and again in 1966–7, with a refurbishment undertaken in 1988–90.

The structure is built in ashlar and brick with ashlar dressings, topped with a double-span tile roof featuring a hipped north end and two brick chimney stacks positioned to the valley.

The west front, which serves as the entrance elevation, is of two storeys with a 2+2-window range. The left half projects forward and is marked by a string course, cornice, and rusticated quoins, whilst the right half features a plaster cornice. The entrance, positioned left of centre, has an architrave and dentilled cornice with an overlight displaying decorative glazing bars above paired half-glazed doors. Two 1860s canted bay windows with hipped roofs crowned with fishscale tiles are present: the left bay has 4-pane sashes, whilst the right of centre features a 1:3:1-light transomed casement. Other windows contain 1960s top-hung casements.

The left return originally had four windows to each floor, which were blocked in the early 19th century. Three ground-floor windows were reopened in 1967 with top-hung casements. A 19th-century window was inserted at the left end of the first floor, and a window to the right was reopened around 1990, both now fitted with 16-pane sashes. A datestone inscribed 1710 is positioned above the string course left of centre.

The right return is constructed in ashlar with two brick gables positioned above tiled offset, and a turret to the right end capped with a pyramidal tile roof. A basement entrance with a leaded overlight provides access to paired 3-panel doors. A ground-floor window retains late 15th-century moulded jambs with an offset sill and a circa 1805 lintel, fitted with a 17th-century leaded cross-casement. The first floor has 12-pane sashes, and the gable a 2-light casement. A low wall to the left, leading to the turret foundations, has an attached much-altered single-storey gabled range. The turret itself contains two small lights, one fitted with a 17th-century casement.

The rear elevation features three early 18th-century windows to the basement. The first floor has a renewed 2-light leaded casement in a late 15th-century opening at the left end, a window with a leaded cross-casement and brick infill above, and a circa 1805 segmental-headed window to the right end fitted with a 4:12:4-pane tripartite sash. The attic contains three brick dormers: a gabled dormer with a 3-light casement, a hipped half-dormer with a 3-light transomed casement, and a single-pitch dormer with a 16-pane top-hung casement.

Interior

The interior has undergone much alteration, though some 19th-century fireplaces and doors survive. The basement retains medieval ashlar and openings. The south-west cellar preserves a blocked south entrance with a shouldered lintel and adjacent openings to the east. Brick walls of 17th or 18th-century date are present, along with later groin vaulting. A circa 1710 fireplace features a stop-chamfered bressumer. The turret contains a brick vault.

The ground floor contains a circa 1805 open-well stick-baluster stair and some re-used early 18th-century panelling beneath the rear window, which bears a Latin inscription dated 1758 or 1858. A 19th-century ex-situ fireplace and an 18th-century door are also present.

The first floor features a front room with a gypsum floor.

The attic retains altered medieval roof trusses with eaves walls, early 18th-century gypsum floors and modifications, 2-panel doors, and trusses to the hipped roof with curved principals. The gabled dormers to the valley and a short transverse valley north of the stack are fitted with leaded glazing.

Despite extensive alteration, the house retains significant medieval remains that suggest an original first-floor hall plan with two wings to the west, along with an interesting early 18th-century range.