The Dean's Lodging is a Grade II* listed building in the Somerset local planning authority area, England. First listed on 12 November 1953. House. 1 related planning application.
The Dean's Lodging
- WRENN ID
- weathered-merlon-flax
- Grade
- II*
- Local Planning Authority
- Somerset
- Constituency
- Wells and Mendip Hills MP: Tessa Munt (LD)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 12 November 1953
- Type
- House
- Address
- The Dean's Lodging, 25, the Liberty, Wells, BA5 2SZ
- OS grid reference
- ST 552 460
- Coordinates
- 51.21181, -2.6424
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Dean's Lodging is a large detached house rebuilt in 1610 by Dr Edward Powell as a "new Canonical house," incorporating the site of earlier buildings. It underwent 18th-century modifications and refenestration, followed by extensive restoration and modernization in 1970. The building is constructed from local random rubble stone with ashlar dressings, topped with a Welsh slate roof featuring a sawn stone ridge between coped gables and stone chimney stacks.
The house has a near-symmetrical single-depth plan, centered around a full-height porch, with a return cross-gabled wing to the right and a second rear wing creating a small courtyard. The original layout was L-shaped, encompassing a hall and spiral staircase leading to the upper chamber.
The exterior is two storeys with attics, five bays in total, with attic gables on the end bays and a projecting gabled porch. The ground floor exhibits ovolo-mould mullioned windows with labels, with 4-light windows in the outer bays and 3-light windows in bays 2 and 4. The first floor is characterized by 12-pane replacement sash windows with stone lintels. Attic windows in bays 1, 3 and 5 are 3-light ovolo-mullioned with labels. The porch is ashlar at ground-floor level, featuring a molded 4-centered outer and inner arch with circular motifs in the spandrels of the inner arch, and includes a 19th-century inner door. Relieving arches are present above all ground-floor openings and bays 1, 3 and 5 of the first floor. The right return has two gables with 2, 3 and 4-light stone-mullioned casements, as is the rear gable of this wing, featuring four levels of casements, some with ovolo and some with chamfer mullions.
Inside, many rooms have simple detailing. One front ground-floor room is fully panelled with 18th-century ovolo-mould fielded panels, complete with a small stone 4-centered fireplace with stopped mouldings, and a large elliptical recess. Some floors are stone or brick. At the foot of the main staircase, two wide and flat elliptical stone arches are notable. The open-well staircase with quarter landings has a stick balustrade and retains an area of 17th-century panelling. A second staircase to the rear has oak treads and a simple stick balustrade. The roofs are constructed with heavy timbers, including plain collars; two trusses incorporate panel and muntin screens below the collars, likely adapted from a previous structure on the site. Further historic features include a straight-headed 3-light 15th-century window, possibly from the demolished Stillington Chapel, and a stone spiral staircase.
Local climate
The Dean's Lodging receives an average of 860 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 62% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 70% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 34 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 52% of listed buildings. Of these, 14 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- Related listed building consents — 1 application
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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