23, The Liberty

This is a detached house, built in 1819 for William Parfitt, the Chapter Clerk, and now part of Wells Cathedral School. It is constructed of Doulting stone ashlar, with a hipped Welsh slate roof hidden behind a parapet and ashlar chimney stacks. The design is Neo Classical in style.

The house follows a symmetrical double-depth plan, incorporating a central hall and a lateral staircase to the left. A prominent central porch features. The building is three storeys and three bays wide, with the central bay slightly forward. It has a plinth, ground and first-floor sill strings, a cornice between the first and second floors, and pilasters to the cornices and between bays, which are panelled at the second-floor level. An attic storey and parapet complete the structure. The ground floor features large 15-pane sash windows with architraves and hood moulds. The first floor has smaller 12-pane sashes in plain reveals, while the second floor contains 6-pane casement windows, with the window in the second bay having been altered. The enclosed porch, approached by five steps with plinths, has a pair of narrow panelled doors under a plain transom light, with a thin architrave and a moulded cornice, flanked by flat pilasters in antis, and panelled end pilasters. This design carries an entablature with a slightly pedimented centre blocking; the returns have 8-pane sashes. To the north is a projecting flat-roofed section containing the staircase.

The interior includes a square entrance hall with canted corners and three arched openings with paired panelled doors. The open geometrical staircase features plain stone treads and a decorative wrought-iron balustrade that rises to a wreathed hardwood handrail. A ground-floor rear left room has bowed ends and a large tripartite 4:12:4-pane sash window. A secondary staircase has a solid string and stick balusters. The stone-flagged basement has an apsidal rear, corresponding with the hall layout, and features three-light, segmental-headed windows with grilles.

The site was formerly occupied by a house belonging to the Abbot of Muchelney. The original building was described as ‘decayed’ in 1469, and later subdivided, serving as housing for the Vicars Choral. In 1819, the present house was built for William Parfitt, and remains of earlier buildings were removed at that time. The Ecclesiastical Commissioners purchased the property in 1933, fearing development into a garage with petrol pumps. The house was leased to the Cathedral School in the 1960s. The façade demonstrates a familiarity with the architectural fashions of the time, influenced by the work of Sir John Soane.