Wick Court

WICK COURT

A house probably built by Thomas Haynes, a Bristol merchant, around 1665, and appearing to be of one build with few later alterations. The building is constructed of limestone rubble, rendered, with a double Roman tiled roof featuring a stone ridge and gable stacks.

The house is planned in a U-shape with a symmetrical front. The south-east front rises to two and a half storeys and displays seven windows, all stone cross windows with ovolo-moulded mullions and transoms and leaded lights. A central two-storey gabled porch is supported on Doric columns set on plinths. The porch contains a double door in a moulded wooden doorcase with a very shallow depressed four-centred arch and sunken spandrels, with an attached column to each side bearing a composite capital and a lozenge above. The first floor of the porch has a three-light mullioned window with a semicircular head to the central light; the porch is probably timber framed and carries three wooden ball finials. The ground and first floors each have six windows. The three large gables each have a similar window with hood mould, an oval keyed bull's eye above with dripstone, and a ball finial. A continuous moulded string course runs above the ground and first floor windows.

Attached to the right is a single-storey addition incorporating part of the north-west range of the garden wall, with a twentieth-century door and window. The right return has a single-storey addition; the first floor displays a similar cross window to the left and right with a continuous moulded string course above, returned from the front. The second floor has two-light ovolo-moulded casements with hood moulds to the left and right, and a two-span roof with a stack to each gable. The left return has one cross window to the left and two to the right (the second from the right is a replacement, and repair work is present to the left and second from the left); a twentieth-century glazed door is positioned second from the left, and the string course is returned. The first floor matches the right return; the second floor is similar to the right return but with dripstones instead of hood moulds, and carries a two-span roof with gable stacks.

The rear features two identical projecting wings to the right and left. Each has cross windows at ground, first and second floor, with string courses returned; the second floor windows have hood moulds, keyed oval bull's eyes above with dripstones, and ball finials. Six original lead rainwater heads with leaf shapes beneath are visible, one bearing the initials WC. A twentieth-century cellar window opens to the right. A central single-storey block between the wings contains a stone doorway with segmental moulding over, pilasters, ovolo-moulded side-lights and a two-light casement with ovolo mullions (a twentieth-century replica) to the right; a parapet wall with pilasters and cornice rises above. Above this stand four cross windows lighting stairs to the right and left, all with dripstones except the top left which has a hood mould. Two small single lights appear at the first and second floors on the left, and a keyed oval bull's eye in the gable above features a ball finial. The inner side of the right wing has a gable rising to ridge height with a large keyed oval window with shutter and ball finial. The inner side of the left wing has a cross window with dripstone at first floor; only half of a similar oval window survives above, without a stone surround, and the gable carries a ball finial. The wing gables have raised coped verges. A rear door is approached by four splayed steps with a low wall ramped down to a terminal square pier approximately one metre high with hipped top and panels to the front and sides.

The interior contains windows with iron casements of a variety of elaborate catches. The hall is panelled with a moulded cornice and has a cupboard beside the fireplace with remains of an oven and a small recess. The entry hall features a scroll-moulded beam with moulded soffit and flat and bar stops; carved corbels at the top of posts are largely concealed by panelling. A cellar door below the stairs has nine bolection-moulded panels. An exceptionally fine open-well stair displays carved splat balusters with Ionic capitals, an elaborately moulded string and handrail, square newel posts with sunken moulded panels on two sides, and very elaborate finials and pendants, all different; the risers are also panelled, and the stair continues to the attic floor. The parlour to the left has bolection-moulded panelling, a scroll-moulded beam and cornice. The kitchen to the rear right contains a scroll-moulded beam with flat and bar stops, a moulded wooden fireplace surround, and a mantelshelf (lowered) supported by three carved lozenges. A large cupboard in the south-east wall and a narrow cupboard beside the fireplace are bolection-moulded; a later cupboard with ventilation panel at the top contains a rare contemporary dog-wheel for turning the spit. The first floor includes a great chamber to the right and an entry chamber. The entry chamber contains an unusually fine carved door with two panels surrounded by chip carving: the upper panel features a circle, the lower one an archway with reeded pilasters and Ionic capitals. The attic and roof were not inspected at the time of survey.