Conservative Club

The Conservative Club, located at 11 Market Place, Wells, is a house with a shop, dating back to circa 1453. It was originally constructed as part of the "New Works" commissioned by Bishop Bekynton. The building has undergone modifications in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The exterior is rendered with a false ashlar lining, colourwashed, and topped with a Welsh slate roof concealed behind a parapet, with a coped gable to the west and a continuation to the east, and a brick chimney stack. The property extends through to No. 4 Cathedral Green at its north end.

The original front range features a through passage to the right and a single large room on each of the upper floors, along with an early staircase and a passageway connecting to a later rear wing. The ground floor has been extended in the early 20th century with rusticated ashlar, a plinth, pilasters, a cornice, and a lead flat roof. It features a single window in a plain opening with curved top corners and a 3-pane toplight, and a 2-panel door beneath a rectangular fanlight. The upper floors showcase a wide canted bay window extending to the full height of the parapet. This bay contains sash windows with 18+30+18 panes to the first floor and 12+20+12 panes to the second floor, accentuated by dentilled cornices and diagonal boarding, surmounted by a flagpole. A buttress with two offsets is present on the left side, alongside a lead rainwater stackhead and downpipe, with traces of a cornice string visible behind the rendering. A small, flat-roofed dormer is situated on the right side behind the parapet.

The rear range, facing Cathedral Green, is rendered with a slate roof and was remodelled in the mid-20th century. It is two storeys high, with 12-pane sashes above a large 16-pane window and a good 6-panel door featuring a margin-pane transom-light.

The interior ground floor has been substantially modified, including a 20th-century staircase. The principal room on the first floor has a two-compartment ceiling with beams moulded on the front half only. A stone corbel is set into the rear wall. Original features include a 17th-century 6-panel door and a 3-light casement with ovolo-mould mullions and transom, though the leading is later. The upper stair is a wooden spiral with a turned newel, accessed through a chamfered stone 4-centred arch. The east wall exhibits heavy timber framing, and the two-bay roof retains the original structure with two ranges of broad, chamfered wind-bracing. A small stone fireplace features a 4-centred arch with ovolo and cavetto moulding. A photograph from 1910 shows that the main canted bays originally lacked glazing bars. The building formerly operated as the Constitutional Club. This property is part of an outstanding late medieval planned urban group of significance.