The Commandery

The Commandery, now operating as a Museum of the Civil War, originated as a medieval hospital founded in the late 11th century. Following the Reformation, it served variously as a private dwelling, Royalist headquarters during the Civil War, college, and printing works. The earliest surviving buildings date from the 15th century, with substantial additions and alterations from the 16th to 19th centuries. Major reinstatement and restoration work was undertaken in the late 1980s by FWB Charles.

Materials and Construction

The building comprises substantial elements of timber framing, some with lath and plaster infill, with much brick infill in later sections. Later construction is predominantly in brick laid in Flemish bond, often painted. Roofs are of plain tiles on timber trusses.

Plan and Layout

The original hospital plan is no longer discernible. The earliest surviving plan unit is the Great Hall, positioned well back from Sidbury across the site. To the left (northwest) of the Hall extends a very long wing, mainly of two storeys in single-room thickness, running adjacent to the later canal. At approximately the midpoint of this wing stands a three-storey crosswing with a through-way. To the right (east) of the Hall, a further long wing projects forward towards the street, with two later arms extending northeast. Behind the Hall to the south stands a substantial late 18th-century dwelling (formerly Commandery House) of two storeys and attics with a hipped roof. At the street front is a short gabled two-storey cottage unit with jetty (formerly 79 and 79a Sidbury). The whole complex forms an irregular but extended H-plan.

Exterior

Street Front

The street front comprises two bays in close studded timber framing with bracing to the left return. The right return is rendered and continues with a later brick bay containing a two-light small-pane casement above a 16-pane sash. The front features a two-light and a three-light window above two display windows, all dating from the late 20th century. Most windows throughout the complex are replacements from the 1980s conservation work, except those in the 18th-century house unit terminating the right wing.

Left Wing

The left wing displays square-panel timber framing to a continuous ridge but with three slightly stepped eaves levels. The last section has brick nogging. The rear bays, beyond the through-way, show mainly square-panel framing with brickwork, but at approximately halfway stands a higher gable (to the Hall range) with close studded gable and high casement above plain brickwork. The wing terminates in a hip above a garage door to brick floors, with various replacement casements to each side and one at eaves level facing the canal. A timber bressumer spans the through-way with a door to the left. Within the passageway is a wide pair of doors to the right and a smaller opening left. The principal museum entrance lies just beyond the front cottage range.

The inner face of this wing, facing a narrow courtyard, is mainly in painted brickwork with some residual framing beyond the hall, and principally framed but with some brickwork (all painted) in the forward part. The higher cross-range is in painted brick with a hipped end. Some original sashes (ground floor) and casements (first floor) survive in the section adjacent to the Hall.

Hall Range

The Hall range retains substantial original work, though in the 19th century a carriageway was cut through at one end, necessitating careful restoration of much structural and other detail. The front to the street has bays marked by bold posts with close stud infill. To the left is a wide pair of doors, and at eaves level are two four-light casements. To the right is a projecting porch of two storeys in timber framing with hip above door and casement.

The far side features a small section of close studded gabled wing attached to the later brick house, linked by lighter framing above a small doorway to the bold hexagonal dais bay. The bay has a decorative barge board and tall narrow casement lights with continuous transom at one-third height, above a brick breast wall. To the right are four bays detailed as to the front, again with one four-light high casement. The Hall originally had more fenestration, probably as a continuous range, at this eaves level. All this side is painted and the extensive roof slopes terminate in a plain ridge.

The House

The house attached to the Hall has three blind openings to segmental heads at each level, separated by a three-course string, and a fourth bay with a sash above an 18th-century door. The outer end is in two gables, both rendered, but the first with some exposed timbering to the gable above a bold two-storey hexagonal bay with 12-pane sashes, a further sash to the staircase, and a low door to the basement. The second gable is plain, and the main garden front, which returns to a bold hipped end, is in two bays with small-pane casements to flat-roofed dormers above large flush 16-pane sashes at each level. A three-course string divides the levels and returns to the left, with large external eaves stack, door and sashes.

Long Range to the Left

The long range to the left is in brick with a three-course mid-string, probably a refacing to the earlier structure at the time of building the attached house. It is in six bays, with five six-pane windows and a pedimented door to the left, and four 12-pane and a 16-pane above 20-pane to the right. Beyond this are the two later projecting wings, mainly in plain or painted brick, the furthest with hipped roof and linked to the main wing by a segmental projection.

Interior

The interiors are very varied, with a complex mixture of detail from the 15th century onwards, including careful late 20th-century restoration.

The Great Hall

The Great Hall has been carefully restructured following the removal of the 19th-century carriageway breakthrough. It is of five bays with heavily moulded trusses, modified in the 19th century by the addition of a central moulded tie at the level of the original hammer beams. Spandrels are traceried, and there are three ranges of wind-bracing. At one end is the screen in double-height panelling with central door under a balustrade with barley-twist balusters. At the dais end, with a bay window to one side, the opposite side has a wide (three-metre) opening with moulded jambs giving to the entrance and staircase hall. At this end is bolection-mould panelling and a slender post to an opening beside the bay. Walls are close studded in heavy timbers on a brick plinth, and the floor has brick paving at the screens end and two-coloured diagonal tiling at the other, continued into the entrance hall. A tree-ring date of 1491 (felling date) has been obtained from a board in the great hall roof.

Canal-Side Wing

The main ground floor suite of rooms to the canal-side wing has been much modified, including insertion of a new staircase, but much early fabric remains. To the first floor, rooms F7 and F8 are noteworthy as they include important remains of 15th-century fresco painting to ceilings and soffits (uncovered in 1935). Subjects include a large central Trinity and martyrdoms of St Thomas Becket and St Erasmus. Close stud walling is exposed, and in F8 the wind-braced roof structure is visible. In this wing towards the Sidbury end is a section without intermediate flooring (rooms F4/G3) which were at one time the brewery.

Other Main Wing

In the other main wing, the most significant survival is the so-called solar (F21). This is in three bays with fully moulded 15th-century braced tie-beam trusses having pierced panel spandrel fill, moulded plate, moulded wind-bracing in two tiers, and moulded purlins. At one end, adjoining the stair, is a heavy close studded wall incorporating an internal four-light opening, and at the other is a fireplace with early 18th-century bolection-mould panelling and fire surround.

Rooms F18 and F19, beyond the staircase, have fine Jacobean wall panelling, and F18 has a very rich fire surround with six-panel overmantel. The house attached at the outer end to the wing has mainly straightforward late 18th-century detailing, including many two-panel fielded doors and a tight open-well staircase with square newels, turned-on-square balusters, broad handrail and solid string. Floors are generally in wide oak plank. One room with hexagonal bay has a broad mid-ceiling chamfered beam and a wide elliptical recess with painted intrados adjacent to an 18th-century eared fire surround under a Jacobean overmantel incorporating the painted arms of Thomas Wylde II. Room F24, at the outer end of the wing, includes a close studded wall and an 18th-century panelled fire surround.

Historical Development

The Commandery takes its name from the title its Masters assumed, who in imitation of superiors in military convents styled themselves Praeceptores or Commanders. A hospital was founded here in the late 11th century, located at Sidbury Gate just outside the city precincts. It served travellers as well as its few permanent inmates, who followed the Rule of St Augustine, and was known as the Hospital of St Wulstan. Apart from a few stones from the earliest period, the first extant structure dates from the 15th century in the Great Hall and adjacent rooms.

Many alterations and additions have been made since the House was dissolved in 1540, when it was granted to Richard Morysyne for the sum of £14 3s 5d. The complex was leased to Thomas Wylde, a clothier, in 1551 for £498, and remained with this family until the mid-18th century when it was purchased by John Dandridge. The Wylde era is evident in many internal details, particularly panelling, fireplaces, and the main staircase.

The Dandridges added domestic wings on the east side, including the prominent house at the northeast corner. This is not shown on a 1741 map but appears on one of 1779, confirmed in its detailing. In the middle 19th century Richard Mence took over, and during his occupancy much damage was done to the fabric. Amongst other modifications, he drove a carriageway through the Great Hall, closing off the other half with a full-height heavy brick wall. The Hall was carefully reconstructed in 1954, but the floor still reflects the earlier subdivision, the black and white diagonal quarries having been replaced by brick paviours at the screens end.

From 1866 to 1887 a school for blind people occupied the premises. After that, until bought by Worcester City Council in 1973, the Littlebury family used them as a printing works, undertaking many improvements including reinstatement of the Hall. In 1977 the property was opened to the public as a Museum of the Civil War, with substantial conservation and renewal work undertaken in preparation for this.