Ritchie Hall

WELLS

ST5446 THE LIBERTY 662-1/6/301 (North side) 12/11/53 No.5 Ritchie Hall (Formerly Listed as: THE LIBERTY (North side) No.5 (Formerly listed as Cathedral Grammar School, North Liberty))

GV II*

Part of the Wells Cathedral School. 1884, but incorporating fragments of a C12 Canon's Barn. Local stone roughly squared and coursed, with ashlar dressings, Welsh slate roofs with terracotta ridge, coped gables. EXTERIOR: single and 2-storey, in a C15 style, 4 bays. Bay 1 is a projecting hall, with 5-light mullioned and transomd window with hoodmould over, bays 2 and 4, set back, have similar windows. Bay 3 is a deep projecting 2-storey porch, with plinth, parapet string and crenellation; the first floor has two 2-light C15-style traceried windows, and below is the entrance doorway with a moulded arch with label. Above the door a flush stone plaque is inscribed: "SCHOLA/CATHEDRALIS/MDCCCLXXXIV". INTERIOR: in the rear part of the building are 6 square piers with slightly rounded corners, to square chamfered abaci, and on double offset chamfered bases, carrying a heavy square aisle-plate. According to Pevsner documents refer to the Canon's Barn in Bishop Reginald's time, c1175-90, and if these are fragments from that time, they are the earliest secular fabric remaining in the city, and hence of considerable historic interest. (The Buildings of England: Pevsner N: North Somerset and Bristol: London: 1958-: 328).

Listing NGR: ST5504646078