118, 120 AND 122, WEST STREET

A row of three town houses at 118, 120 and 122 West Street, with origins in the late 16th century and later 18th and 19th century extensions and alterations.

The houses are built in a variety of materials, including timber frames with wattle and daub panels, stone rubble with cob, and brick. The exteriors are rendered and painted, with red tile roofs and brick chimney stacks. All three properties have irregular evolved plans, with principal rooms arranged along the road side and a series of irregular extensions to the rear.

No. 118 has a near symmetrical façade with a central entrance flanked by 20th century three-light timber casement windows, three similar windows on the first floor, a stack to the west gable, and a plain tiled roof. The west gable is blank.

No. 120 has its entrance to the right with a late 19th century flat roofed open porch and a late 18th to 19th century door. Above the door is a small two-light horned sash window. To the left of the door is a two-storey canted bay with horned sash windows, a brick stack to the west gable and a pantiled roof. The rear elevation has four 12-light sash windows, those on the ground floor with slightly arched heads, and a lead rainwater head with heraldic badges. There are single storey gabled extensions to either side, housing the service ranges.

No. 122 has an asymmetrical south or roadside elevation with two roof heights, the higher hipped roof to the left, a central chimney stack and pantiled roof. On the ground floor there is a 12-light sash window to the right and a four-light horned sash to the left. On the first floor there is a nine-light three over two sash window to the right and a four-light horned sash to the left. To the far left are the remains of a large carriage entrance with piers of moulded brick with stone capping, later partially infilled with brick and rubble stone. The west or garden elevation is the principal elevation, set at right angles to the road and asymmetrical. The entrance is towards the right with a 19th century door with square overlight and side glazing. To its right is a single storey canted bay window with a plain tile roof. Above the door is an arched sash window with stained glass margin glazing. To the right, above the canted bay, is a four-light sash window. To the left of the door is blank at both ground and first floor. There is a 20th century part-glazed lean-to conservatory. Further to the left is a late 19th century brick extension, containing the service range, with a number of irregularly set timber casement windows with brick heads and sills.

The interiors preserve period features including interior joinery such as skirtings, door cases, timber panel doors, floorboards and alcove cupboards, and a range of largely 19th century fireplaces. No. 118 includes chamfered cross beams and evidence of box framing in the partition walls; a deeply moulded, high-quality 16th century cross beam in the front left room; and early 19th century raised and fielded timber dado panelling. No. 120 has 18th century moulded plasterwork representing fanlight tracery above the entrance; in the principal chamber are arched niches either side of the chimney breast. The interior of No. 122 appears to have been largely renovated in the 19th century, and includes a staircase with turned newel posts topped by ball finials and turned balusters. At both ground and first floor level, there are arched niches either side of the fireplaces in the rooms immediately adjoining No. 120.

The roof structure was accessible only in Nos. 118 and 120. The earliest roof truss is encased in the east gable and comprises principals joined at the apex and the remains of a single trenched curving each side. Two further trusses in No. 118 are inscribed with carpenters' marks and are tie beam trusses with a pair of trenched purlins each side, and collars which are jointed to the principals with half-lapped dovetails. In No. 120 the trusses have tie beams and threaded purlins each side. The notched apex is reinforced with a nailed yoke. Exterior inspection suggests that the 18th century hipped roof structure survives intact at the west end of No. 122.

A property is recorded on the site of No. 118 from at least the late 16th century. For over 200 years it was owned by the Mayor and Alderman of the town and tenanted by a series of reasonably well-to-do tenants. Known as Claremont House, by the late 19th century it was in disrepair and was subsequently occupied by a series of merchants. Deeds also exist for a property on the site of No. 122 since at least 1712. A survey of Nos. 118 and 120 undertaken by the Somerset Vernacular Building Research Group suggests that No. 118 was built towards the end of the 16th century and extended in the late 17th century. No. 120 was built in the 18th century and the two were amalgamated in mid-19th century. No. 122 is also of several phases built in the 18th century and extended later when the garden façade was created. In the 19th century it was updated with the addition of the canted bay to the west elevation and the service range extension to the north. The 1888 Ordnance Survey records the three properties in their present form.