Wintersfold And The Gables Including Adjoining Wall To South

Wintersfold and The Gables are two attached houses located on Well Hill in Minchinhampton, dating from the mid to late 17th century, with significant alterations made to The Gables in the late 19th and 20th centuries. The buildings are constructed of coursed and random rubble limestone, featuring ashlar and rubble chimneys, and have a stone slate roof. They are two stories high with an attic, and No 5 has raised floor levels.

The front of the houses showcases three full gables. The left gable is made of larger squared rubble from the late 17th century and has an altered doorway and window on the ground floor, while the upper floor features a 16-pane sash window and a 2-light chamfered mullioned attic window with a leaded iron casement. The two gables on the right have been partly rebuilt during major alterations, with mullioned and cross-windows that are all from the 20th century. The original 17th-century oval windows have been reset in the gables. The doorway to No 5 (The Gables) is a fine 20th-century feature with moulded architraves and a bold shell hood supported by carved brackets.

An adjoining wall extends to the right, which includes a blocked segmental arched coachway and a round arched pedestrian doorway. The rear of the property has an extensive additional range for No 5, incorporating a former dovecote that contains eight rows of pigeon holes with perch shelves in the gables. Later fenestration has been added, with a 2-light window in the attic and a 3-light window below, both being mullioned; the ground floor windows have mainly been altered in the 20th century. A tall chimney with a moulded cap is present on the north gable of the former dovecote.

Inside, Wintersfold features a late 17th-century dog-leg staircase with moulded handrails and turned balusters, along with an extended collar roof structure in the front part of the house. Originally built as weavers' houses, the dovecote may have been associated with the Delameres manor, which was later replaced by the Lammas.