The Old Cloth Hall

The Old Cloth Hall is a cloth hall, dating back to 1629, built by Archbishop Abbot and extended in the late 18th century. It is now used as a shop. Constructed of red-brown brick with orange-red brick to the extensions, it has plain tiled roofs. The building has a rectangular plan, oriented at right angles to the street, with a tower extension at the north end. The original section is two and a half storeys high, while the tower is taller, rising over three stages and facing the street.

The tower features stacks at the front and a stone-coped parapet at the top. Octagonal corner turrets are topped with stone domes and finials. The base and first stage of the tower are buttressed, with string courses above. A curved bay rises through the first two stages, supported by moulded corbels with stone quoining and stone-dressed, mullioned and transomed casement windows. A three-light leaded casement window occupies the attic space. The ground floor has one three-light leaded casement window to the left and one to the right, flanking a four-centre arched stone door surround with a tall plinth moulding.

The older range returns to the right and faces Jeffries Passage, displaying irregular leaded casement windows, predominantly from the 19th century. Chamfered-surround slit breathers are along the first floor, with three windows set within them. A later upper floor is also present. A brick wall continues along Jeffries Passage at a height of approximately 2 metres, finished with brick-on-edge coping.

The rear of the building features a gable and apex stack with gargoyles at the angles.

The left return front (east side) has irregularly arranged, stone-dressed mullioned and transomed casement windows. A door is set to the left, with a chamfered stone surround and label moulding above.

The Cloth Hall was originally built on the site of the stables of George Abbot's Hospital of the Blessed Trinity. Abbot intended it as a manufactory to revive the local woollen cloth industry, and endowed it with an annual sum of £100. In 1656, it was converted to house paupers and, in 1856, was used for the foundation of George Abbot’s School.