29, High Street

WARE TOWN

TL3514SE HIGH STREET 829-1/9/93 (South side) 14/03/74 No.29

GV II

House, now bank. c1833 with late C19 and mid C20 alterations. Red brick front, parapet with stone coping, Welsh slated roof. Slight setback to left, with carriageway under elliptical arch, with twin leaf gates. 3 storeys, plinth, broad painted plat bands at floor levels. 1:4 sash windows with glazing bars, in reveals under rubbed flat arches. 5 stone steps up to door, C19 wrought-iron railings. 6 fielded panelled door and fanlight with radiating glazing bars in arched panelled reveal, surround with Tuscan Doric pilasters, entablature with triglyph frieze and modillions. Modern, mid C20 multi-paned ground floor windows. Large mid C20 banking hall at rear, not of special interest. HISTORICAL NOTE: this building occupies the historic site of The George Inn, recorded in 1490, and for several centuries one of the principal inns of the town. Housed `The Great Bed of Ware' in early C18, and visited by Isaak Walton, mentioned in The Compleat Angler. Acquired by Robert Sworder, and c1833 demolished, and the present house built for John Sworder. (Heath C: The Book of Ware. A Portrait of the Town: Chesham: 1977-: 12, 14, 17; Ware 25" to 1 Mile. Surveyed by the Ordnance Survey Department: 1851-; Hunt EM: The History of Ware: Hertford: 1986-1946: 111-116; Perman D: Ware UD. List of buildings of special arch or historic interest: 1993-: 27).

Listing NGR: TL3585714243