16, Market Place

WELLS

ST5445 MARKET PLACE 662-1/7/155 (East side) 14/08/72 No.16

GV II

Former house, now offices with shop below; the property also occupies the upper part of Penniless Porch (qv). C16, considerable additions and alterations early C17, refronted to W in early C20. Squared stone in uneven courses to the Market Street front, rubble with brick dressings elsewhere, tile or slate roofs. PLAN: a complex property which has a shop at ground floor entered from under the Porch, offices on the upper floors, and a large range to the rear, entered from Cathedral Green. This rear range encloses a courtyard to the rear, with a principal entrance to the main staircase. abutments on both sides. EXTERIOR: 2 storeys with attics, 4 bays. 2-light timber casement windows with rectangular leaded panes, the ground-floor windows having transoms, the openings slightly segmental-arched. In the roof, three flat roofed dormers with casement windows, the centre 3-light and the others single-light. Behind Penniless Porch is a long gabled wing in 3 storeys, with wide-spaced 9 over 12-pane sashes, and at the ground floor a small 2-pane casement with transom, wide plank door, paired 12-pane sash and a further door; at mid height is a 12-pane sash to a staircase. Behind the plain parapet are 2 roofs, that to the left with coped gables, each with a stack, then a hipped end which runs back to a coped gable with stack at the S end; there is a gap between this roof and the rear of the Porch, and internal gutter to the rear of the Market Place range. The plain E gable end has a 2-storey lean-to addition, then returns, with a set-back to a narrow gable over early 12-pane sashes with ovolo-mould bars and crown glass, and a C20 door. The roofs to the rear ranges are of slate. Under the Porch is an C18 six-panel door in a moulded stone architrave with closed pediment, and to its right an early plank door with central hinges, and to a 4-centred head; this door gives to the stair vice of the Porch. INTERIOR: the ground floor of the front range has little of historic interest. At the rear of the office block is a fine late C17 or early open well C18 hardwood stair rising through both floors with 3 balusters to each tread, the central one twisted, and carved scrolled ends to the treads. The dado has fielded panelling. There are many C18 doors with fielded panels, and many of the windows are shuttered. One first-floor room at the S end, overlooking the Market Place, is entered through a 2-panel fielded door, and has a stone fire surround with flat 4-centred lintel, and moulded beams. The rebuilt C20 frontage of this property belies the complex and rich interior. The grand staircase suggests that at some time it must have been a household of some importance.

Listing NGR: ST5506445807