Craddock House Friars Cottage Friary Cottage Friary Court

Craddock House, also known as Friars Cottage and Friary Cottage, and forming Friary Court, is a complex of buildings constructed primarily in the 17th century, with alterations and additions in the 18th century. It was originally built by Mathew Bee, Mayor of Salisbury in 1600, and documented in title deeds in 1618.

The buildings are arranged in an L-shape, facing north and south into Friary Court, and east and west as Craddock House. Friary Court is a three-storey brick building with a hipped tile roof. The upper storey was added in the 18th century, along with alterations to the south front. The north front features a central 17th-century two-light leaded casement window and a delicate 18th-century wrought iron scrolled flower guard over the central door, which itself is a fine 18th-century design with panelled reveals, architrave surround, side pilasters, flat brackets with roundel ornament, plain frieze, and a moulded dentilled cornice. The south front is stuccoed with sash windows and a central glazed door.

Craddock House’s east front, largely 17th-century in origin with some 18th-century modifications, is two storeys with an attic. It is built of brick with a projecting stone-capped plinth, and includes a projecting gabled wing to the right. The wing features 17th-century stone mullioned casement windows on the ground, attic, and first floors. The ground floor also has an 18th-century six-panel door matching that of Friary Court, flanked by a four-light stone mullioned casement to the right and an eight-light mullioned and transomed casement to the left. The first floor has an 18th-century three-light sash window (without glazing bars), a single center sash, and a four-light stone mullioned casement to the right. A former two-storey porch has been removed. The west front presents a picturesque grouping of gables and substantial chimneys, with a narrow central gable over the stairs, featuring stone mullioned windows of varying sizes.

Interior features include a mid-18th-century staircase within Friary Court, characterized by square newels, turned balusters, open string with scrolled tread ends, and mouldings. Exposed beams are also present. Craddock House showcases exposed timber framing and decorative plasterwork on the ceiling of a ground-floor room at the south end. A 1st floor fireplace with a wood bressumer, and a winder staircase also survive. The roof contains exposed purlins and principals, with the remainder concealed.

Adjacent buildings, No. 20 (Friary Cottage) and Friars Cottage (Friary Lane), are former outbuildings belonging to Craddock House. No. 20 (Friary Cottage) is a late 18th-century two-storey red-brick structure with an old tile roof, featuring three leaded first-floor casements, one ground-floor casement, and a central ledged door. Friars Cottage (Friary Lane) is also two storeys of red brick with an old tile roof; it has irregular casement windows and a plain door. The buildings form part of an important group associated with the South Side of St Anne's Street.