Nos 72-84 (Even) Wells Road with front boundary wall and gateway

Nos 72-84 (even) Wells Road comprises a terrace of houses with a front boundary wall and gateway, built in the 18th century. The terrace is of consistent design, running along a sloping site, and each house has a front and rear gable. The houses are three storeys to the front and four to the rear, with large additional bays at each end. Windows are horizontal bar casements with stone mullions, stopped drip-courses, flush surrounds, and cills. Original plank doors are set within flat, pointed segmental heads with dropped square drip-courses, some within porches.

No. 72 has a set-back hipped bay which appears to be later than the rest of the terrace. It features modern casements, a small hipped dormer, and a standard door to the left. The return side has windows arranged as three lights above two. This unit has deep eaves supported by brackets. No. 74 has a two-storey square porch addition to the right, with a slit-light above the front door and a three-light window with transom at ground-floor level. No. 76 has a full-width two-storey front extension with two two-light windows above a three-light window, all with transoms, and a standard door. No. 78 is similar, with a steel casement at first-floor level, and a doorway with a shouldered lintel. No. 80 retains the original window layout and a small two-storey square porch with a paired plain sash window at the first floor. No. 82 also retains its original windows, with small pane casements, and a small square porch with an entablature, offset to the right. To the left of No. 84 is an octagonal turret with two string-courses and a further bay with a coped gable and three-light casements at two levels. Very deep ashlar stacks are situated at each party division.

The rear elevation is more regular, with a series of gables over casements with stone mullions and stopped drip-courses; a two-light window features in each gable, and a three-light window on the upper floors. Lower-ground-floor doors are present. The rear of No. 74 is slightly bowed, the rear of No. 72 has replaced casements, and an extension to No. 84 has two-light casements with stone bracketed eaves. Late 20th-century roof lights are present on the south side.

The boundary wall runs for the full width of the frontage with steep, weathered saddle back coping, which is cut down and plain in part, towards the left. The terrace is unusual, deliberately picturesque, and draws inspiration from 17th-century almshouses. The original function of the buildings is unclear. The interiors have not been inspected.