Tudor House

This is a Tudor house situated in a row, originally comprised of two dwellings. It was constructed between 1603 and 1610. The exterior is faced with Portland stone ashlar and has a stone slate roof. The house is twin-gabled over three storeys with two windows. All windows are 3-light recessed hollow chamfer mullion casements with small-scale leading. The windows above the ground floor are topped with moulded and dropped labels, with a single label extending across the full width of the front above the ground floor openings. A plank door is set within a chamfered surround to the left, and a small 2-light casement, formerly a door opening, is to the right. The front gables have saddle-back copings on kneelers and a central lead spout. Early brick stacks are located on each gable. The rear of the property is enclosed with squared Portland stone and a tile roof slope, incorporating a single row of stone slates at the eaves. A flat-roofed dormer is present above 2 or 3-light casements with concrete lintels, and a door is situated to the right.

The interior of the ground floor is a single room with two transverse, large chamfered beams and deep stone-cheeked fireplaces with wood bressumers at each end. The right-hand fireplace contains a fine cast-iron fireback depicting Poseidon emerging from a wave, which was brought in from elsewhere. The front windows are set in deep embrasures at floor level, with inserted bench seats. A partition across the rear creates a kitchen area, and a new staircase rises in the back left corner to a curved recess. The upper two floors are divided into two small rooms each. At the first floor, the timber bressumer to the right-hand fireplace retains traces of early painted decoration. A C17 door, originating from another location, is present on the second floor.

Historically, the property was formerly two small cottages and was subject to a Closing Order in 1936. It was subsequently purchased by the Weymouth Ancient Buildings Society, received blast damage during the Second World War, and in 1944 was bequeathed to the newly established Weymouth Civic Society by the architect Walmsley Lewis, who was also the last of the Trustees and Secretary (1944-1977). Walmsley Lewis undertook extensive restoration work, and the house is now presented as a single dwelling, open to the public.