Penniless Porch

WELLS

ST5445 MARKET PLACE 662-1/7/156 (East side) 12/11/53 Penniless Porch

GV I

Gateway to Cathedral Green. c1450, built by Bishop Bekynton. Doulting ashlar stone, with lead roof. The upper floors communicate with and are used by the occupants of No.16 (qv). EXTERIOR: 3 storeys, single bay, exposed on west and north sides only. Plinth, moulded strings between floors and under battlemented parapet, octagonal south-west corner turret. West face has 4-centre arch with rosettes set in mouldings, carved spandrels with letter TB (for Thomas Bekynton) interwoven with foliage; first floor has two windows set slightly proud, a double-and a single-light, with cinquefoil cusping to ogee tracery under flat heads, and between them a carved angel figure bearing a coat of arms, further shields in cusped recesses under windows; second floor panelled, with two 2-light windows with blank underpanels, with worn statue niches between them and to either side. The north face has a plainer 4-centre arch with arched label, a corbelled panelled feature in the northwest corner at first floor level and a double-ogee arched statue recess to the left, otherwise the two upper floors rough-rendered and plain, with string and battlemented parapet, angled buttress to north-east corner, and rendered lean-to building set in front of the main east building. In the S wall are two doorways, one plain 4-centred, the other a late C18 pedimented elaborate lierne vault. INTERIOR: there is a single room at each upper level. The first floor has C17 panelling with pilasters, including panelling to seats in window embrasures, and a bolection-mould fireplace to the E. In the SE corner, behind a C17 door in a 4-centred arch is a recess, possibly a former garderobe. The spiral stair in the SW corner has stone treads to the lower flight, but wood treads to the upper flight. The upper room has a 2-bay arch-braced roof with wind-bracing. On the S side are very large moulded brackets or corbels, and a small cusped lancet. HISTORICAL NOTE: the porch is said to be so named as it was the spot where beggars normally sought alms; a stone bench runs along the E wall. (The Buildings of England: Pevsner N: North Somerset and Bristol: London: 1958-: 311).

Listing NGR: ST5505945811