Number 61 And Front Boundary Wall

NUMBER 61 AND FRONT BOUNDARY WALL, ST THOMAS STREET, WELLS

A terraced house dating from the early 17th century, extended and refenestrated in the 19th century. The building is constructed of rubble, whitewashed to the rear and rendered to the street front, with brick chimney stacks and a pantile roof.

The house is arranged over two storeys with three windows. At first-floor level is a near-central wide 18-pane horizontal sliding sash flanked by two 9-pane casements, all set in thin projecting surrounds. The ground floor has late 19th or early 20th-century three-light casements with transom flanking a part-glazed panelled door accessed by five stone steps. To the left is extra walling at the main fireplace bay. During restoration work in 1993, external rendering was removed, revealing rough squared quoins to each end of the front wall and a small rectangular light in a flush stone surround with chamfered edge at first-floor level on the left. Both gables have coped verges, each with a small brick stack. The rear elevation has 20th-century casements, a doorway with raised raking roof, two late 20th-century rooflights, and a further small square brick stack at the original eaves line to the right.

The plan may originally have comprised a single ground-floor room, later subdivided by a cross-passage with a single heated room on each side. Off the left-hand room a spiral staircase flanks the fireplace, with a second fireplace and stack possibly added later. A full-width lean-to extends to the rear beneath a swept-down roof.

Internally, the ground floor has a stone-paved cross passage leading to a 20th-century staircase in the outshut section to the right rear. The ceiling has four transverse beams, painted with run-out stops to chamfers. The outer beams stand against the left fireplace wall and right gable wall, interrupted here by the chimney breast projection. The other two beams are equally spaced, with that to the right partly built into a later partition to the cross passage and that to the left positioned two-thirds across the room near the second partition.

The left-hand room contains a wide fireplace with a wood bressumer resting on large dressed quoin stones, set very tight to the left-hand wall adjacent to the street. To its right is a small door to an under-stair cupboard, and a six-panel door to the staircase. The staircase is a wooden spiral contained within an elliptical well built in unrendered thin-bedded rubble stone. Some early solid baulk treads remain visible beneath later treads and risers. The rear wall of this room has, at its left end adjacent to the stair entry, a stone doorway with a chamfered round arch brought to stops on the jambs. Blocked on the inner face but visible within the outshut is a small rectangular window opening with a deep chamfered stone surround and two square dowel holes to sill and head for former stanchions. The floor has been screeded, though a small area of original stone flags is exposed near the stair entry. The smaller room to the right contains a projecting chimney breast with a partly exposed stone fire surround having a very flat four-centred chamfered lintel on damaged jambs.

The first-floor room on the left has a square fireplace with a single stone lintel to a broad chamfer, stopped to the jambs, set very tight to the front street wall. This wall contains a blocked former opening filled with late brickwork. The fireplace sits within a much wider relieving arch with rough deep voussoirs, one of which is a large worked stone bearing incised lines. The front wall also has relieving arches rising just above floor level. The stair well includes a small slit opening, blocked externally.

The roof spans three bays corresponding with the ground-floor beams and features very heavy principals with deep cambered collars, two square purlins with slight chamfering, and heavy ties badly rotted at the bearings. The rafters are late 20th-century replacements.

The front boundary wall, situated approximately two metres from the house, is a low random stone wall with ashlar coping and an opening opposite the door, contributing to the setting of the house and the streetscape.

According to historical records, numbers 61 and 63 have deeds dating from 1321 and at some stage passed to the Vicars Choral. Much of the historic fabric remained concealed until exposed during building work in 1993.