Blanket Hall

WITNEY HIGH STREET SP3510SE (East side ) 9/147 No.100 (Blanket Hall) 14/05/52 GV II*

Blanket hall. Built 1721: panel with arms of Witney Company of Weavers reads "Robert Collier Master 1721". Limestone ashlar; gabled roof; lateral stack of stone finished in brick. Provincial Baroque style. 2 storeys; symmetrical 3-window range. Raised and segmental -headed keyed architrave to plank double doors set in heavy wood frame with overlights. Similar architraves to 9-pane sashes and 12-pane sash above door, all with thick glazing bars. Raised storey band and quoin strips; ball finials with gadrooned bases to corners and surmounting open pediment. Pediment has half-H apron blocks beneath cornice and clock in tympanum above arms of the Witney Company of Weavers. Roof surmounted by fine wood bell turret with cupola. Rear: 2 similar sashes and round-arched doorway. Remodelled C18 range to rear, of coursed limestone rubble with gabled artificial stone slate roof. Interior: C18 panelled doors. Partial inspection only. The Witney Blanket Weavers Company was chartered in 1711: blankets were brought here for weighing and measuring. (Buildings of England: Oxfordshire, p.846; N. Lloyd, History of the English House, 1931, fig.227; National Monuments Record).

Listing NGR: SP3576810110