Woolstaplers' Hall

SP 1539 SW HIGH STREET (South East side) 9/156 Woolstaplers' Hall (formerly listed with Woolstaplers' 05/08/1960 House and Woolstaplers' Hall)

GV I

Said to be former Wool Exchange Room and Merchants' Hall, now a museum. Said to have C14 origins, surviving constructional details however largely C15. Restored by C.R.Ashbee as his home after 1904. Rubble with ashlar dressings, stone slate roofs. Gable-end to road, possibly once the solar wing of a larger house whose hall may be incorporated in Woolstaplers' House adjacent (Q.v.); narrower extensions to rear. Two storeys, inserted attic and garrets removed by Ashbee. Principal external feature is a flat-fronted oriel to upper floor of 1:4:1 lights with cut-away moulded corbelling and hipped stone roof: above is a 3-light leaded window with stone mullions and flat cornice (Ashbee) while in the gable is a further blocked opening; the gable is coped and has a pretty saddlestone with cinquefoil panel; ashlar chimney to left with moulded capping. Below the oriel is a moulded doorway by Ashbee with a heavy keystone and side-lights; evidence of former openings. Interior: ground floor lay-out altered; on the first floor is a fine chamber with good detail including: vault in oriel; large Tudor-arched fireplace with Calf family rebus in spandrels; 3-bay open roof with 2 rows of wind-braces and irregular trusses, 2 with cranked collars and clasped purlins, the closed Eastern truss may not, as now, have been the end truss; it now has a glazed upper apex with glass (?by Paul Woodroffe) with Ashbee's rebus. The Calf family whose house this was were prominent wool-merchants in the later middle ages. C.R.Ashbee's restoration was sensitive by the standards of the time. Ashbee (1863-1942) founded the Guild of Handicraft in Whitechapel in 1885; it was an influential part of the Arts & Crafts Movement and he moved it to Chipping Campden in 1902. Graded I partly on this account. Now a museum of bygones.

Listing NGR: SP1525439266