Old Judges House

Old Judges' House

A shop and former dwelling with warehouse and office buildings, situated on the north side of Westgate Street, Gloucester, flanking the west side of Maverdine Passage. The building comprises interconnected ranges linked by a bridge over the passage to offices at the rear of No. 24 Westgate Street.

The structure originated in the late 15th century and was greatly enlarged and remodelled in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, then altered in the early 18th century. Further alterations were made in 1772 for William Bishop, a grocer, and the building was refronted and altered internally around 1815. From 1886 it was altered and extended for Winfields, Seed Merchants.

The building is constructed of timber frame, partly rendered, standing on ground-floor walls of stone rubble and brick. The rear elevation facing Maverdine Passage retains significant and rare surviving 17th-century limewashed comb-decorated render. In the late 18th century the street front was rebuilt in brick and is now painted. Brick extensions occupy the rear, with brick stacks and roofs of plain tile and slate.

The plan comprises a long range in two parts at right angles to the street. To the rear is a late 15th-century three-bay range, and to the front a mid-16th-century two-bay range. A late 16th and early 17th-century three-bay range with cross-gabled dormers and a gabled stair turret in the north-west corner clearly replaced an earlier structure. At ground level the full length of both parts is now a large shop area, but at upper levels four building phases from circa 1575 to 1620 are discernible. Gables were added to the mid-16th-century front bays when three bays to the centre were built around 1600, connecting the front to the rear stair turret and extending outward to Maverdine Lane. The presence of a first-floor door to the stair turret suggests a former gallery connecting the front and rear ranges prior to around 1600. A late 19th-century rear extension is linked by a first-floor bridge over Maverdine Passage to a 19th-century warehouse and offices behind No. 24 Westgate Street.

Externally, the longer front part of the range rises to four storeys with cellar and attic. The rear part rises to three storeys, with 19th-century extensions also of three storeys. The early 19th-century street front features a crowning cornice with closely set modillions and a parapet masking the attic. The ground floor contains a late 19th-century shop-front. The first and second floors each have two tall sashes, and the third floor has two short sashes, all with glazing bars (three panes by two on the lower floors, three panes by two on the third floor) in openings with painted brick flat arches and projecting stone sills.

The elevation of the higher southern part of the range facing Maverdine Passage retains elaborate late 16th and early 17th-century architectural features and detail. The ground floor comprises rubble walling believed to contain reused Roman masonry. On the timber-framed upper floors the south bay is masked by the adjoining side of No. 24 Westgate Street. On the four exposed bays the first and second floors are jettied with close studding. The bay posts are decorated with pairs of shafts with knee brackets below the moulded bressumer to the second-floor jetty. On the first floor, each of the three right-hand bays contains a timber oriel window capped by the second-floor jetty and supported on carved end brackets, with five casement lights with ovolo-moulded mullions and an upper transom. On the second and third floors each bay contains a similar oriel window (except where replaced by a later and smaller casement in the third bay to the left on the third floor), each oriel capped with a shallow gable like a pediment. Each dormer gable contains a four-light casement with timber mullions and an upper transom. The three gable dormers to the right have stepped bargeboards.

The lower, late 15th-century three-bay range to the right (rear from Westgate Street) is jettied at first and second-floor levels and has exposed storey posts on the first floor with brackets to the second-floor jetty, otherwise rendered panels. In the central bay on the first floor is an early 19th-century sash with sidelights and glazing bars. On the second floor are a casement pair to the left and a sash to the right, both with glazing bars. Between them, off-centre to the right, is a late 16th-century projecting blocked casement with sill supported on carved brackets. The gable-end wall to the rear of the range is also jettied at second-floor and gable levels but is masked by the 19th-century extension. On the west side of the front part of the range, above No. 28 Westgate Street, are four gabled dormers similar to those on the east side but with rendered framing.

Internally, the ground floor contains several exposed bridging beams. To the right are stairs to a first-floor lobby, lined in part with late 16th-century panelling, giving access to a large first-floor reception chamber formed around 1815 as part of the conversion to Judges' Lodgings. This chamber is fitted with moulded skirting, dado rail, moulded plaster cornice and two acanthus-moulded ceiling roses. Other rooms show exposed timber-framing and chamfered storey posts. On the west side is a stairwell containing an early 18th-century open-well staircase from the first to second floor with closed string, barleysugar balusters and toadback handrail. From the second to third floor the stair is probably early 17th-century with knopped newels and bulbous turned balusters. On the third floor in the front room, several of the oriel windows on the east side retain early 17th-century wrought-iron casements with original elaborately patterned leadlight glazing and original iron catches.

This is an exceptionally fine merchant's house of considerable architectural significance. The quality of surviving detail is notable, including rare original surviving patterned leaded glass. It ranks among the most substantial timber-framed merchants' houses to have survived in any English town. The house served as the Hall of the Grocer's Guild in the 18th century and was used as Judges' Lodgings in the early 19th century. The formerly impressive multi-jettied front was recorded by J. C. Buckler in the early 19th century. The ground-floor front room was formerly panelled with the Browne arms to the overmantel; Alderman John Browne is recorded as the owner before 1585. The building is a Scheduled Ancient Monument.