17 Vineyards and attached railings

This is a house, dating from around 1760. It was developed by Thomas Omer and part of the site was underleased to William Biggs.

The front of the house is constructed from limestone ashlar, while the rear is of ashlar and brick. It has a Welsh Slate roof with two tall ashlar stacks at the right end of the front range and a further ashlar stack at the right end of the rear range.

The house is three storeys high. There is a canted bay to the left with a central doorway, set within an architrave and beneath a 19th-century hood supported by scrolled consoles. Plate glass sashes are in all the windows, with two on the ground floor of the bay and three to the upper floors. A platband is visible at first floor level, a moulded stringcourse at second floor level, and a moulded eaves cornice and parapet above.

The interior has not been inspected.

The land on which the house stands was formerly owned by the Hayne family from 1638. By 1755, Charles Hayne sold the site to Thomas Omer and Thomas Jelly, with Belmont constructed on the western edge of the same plot. The area has been consistently referred to as ‘Vineyards’ throughout its history, though the date when vine growing ceased is unknown.

No. 17 appears to have originally incorporated No. 16, forming a large, symmetrical house with an early canted bay on the front facade. It was later subdivided in the 19th century, at the time the present rear wing was built (see No. 16). The house has been extensively repaired recently.