Nethergate Hotel

The Nethergate Hotel is an early 16th century timber-framed and plastered house with a central block and slightly lower side wings featuring exposed timber framing and jettied upper storeys. It was historically owned by several generations of the wealthy Crosse clothiers family and underwent extensive alterations in 1644 by Francis Crosse. The building has two storeys and attics. The central block has a four-window front, the north wing a three-window front, and the south wing a one-window front, all with mullioned and transomed casements and leaded lights. The jettied upper storeys of the side wings are supported by bressumers carved with running-leaf ornamentation, brackets with drop finials, and closely spaced studding. The central block is plastered in panels. The main entrance features a late 17th century wood doorcase with pilasters and a pediment on console brackets, sheltering a two-panel bolection moulded door. Five short gabled wings project at the rear, one with exposed timber framing, and a long wing extends to the south-east, also with exposed timber framing. A dormer at the rear displays the date 1644 and the initials FCE (Francis Crosse and his wife Elizabeth). A lead rainwater head bears the date 1760 and the initials A over DM. Originally, there were two long wings at the rear, but one was destroyed by fire in 1900 and subsequently rebuilt. The roof is tiled, with two gabled dormers on the front of the central block, and four 17th century style chimney stacks rebuilt in the early 20th century, with octagonal shafts, spur caps and moulded bases. The interior includes a fire staircase with turned balusters and carved newels added in 1644, alongside a William and Mary period staircase. There are moulded beams and ceiling joists, along with some 17th century panelling on the ground storey and 18th century panelling on the first storey. The building is part of a group value with Nos 1 to 9 Nethergate Street (north-west side) and buildings on the south side of Well Lane.