The Crown Hotel

THE CROWN HOTEL, WELLS

The Crown Hotel is a late 16th-century building incorporating earlier fabric in its rear wing, situated on the south side of Market Place in Wells. It comprises what are now Nos 4, 6, 8 and 10 Market Place. The building is rendered, probably over a timber frame, with a clay pantiled roof featuring three gables whose ridges run at right angles to the street.

The plan consists of a wide frontage with a central carriageway and a long rear wing to the right. Although the plan has been modified, there remains double depth on each side of the throughway, with the main staircase originally positioned at the junction of the main range and wing.

The exterior presents three storeys and three bays to the street. The ground floor features 20th-century timber canted bays, with the throughway under the centre bay flanked by carved timber posts, and a 16-pane light to its right. Above this floor sits a slate pentice roof over a shallow fascia. The first and second floors have shallow canted bay windows of 1+4+1 transomd lights with ovolo mould, each with continuous pentice roofs. All windows are rectangular and leaded. Between the bays at second floor level and between bays 2 and 3 at first floor are star-leaded upright oval windows in rectangular panels. Between bays 1 and 2 at first floor level is a projecting hanging sign on wrought-iron brackets. The throughway is enclosed at its mid-point, with traces of moulded jambs visible in the side walls and on the right a chamfered 4-centre archway.

The rear elevation features several gables at varying levels. One wider weatherboarded gable contains an early 18th-century composite sash window of 12+8+12 panes with very thick glazing bars. A 3-bay wing extends southwards, comprising two storeys with attics, also dating to the late 16th century. The ground floor of this wing has a 2-light casement and part-glazed door, a void at bay 2, and a 2-light casement at bay 3. The outer bays at first floor level have square oriel windows of 1+5+1 transomd lights with ovolo mould, set on deep ornamental wood brackets on a carved wall plate with carved stone panels between the brackets. Between these is a 5-light mullioned window. The attic windows are 1+3+1 light oriel windows with ovolo-moulded mullioned casements, mostly diamond-leaded, with shallow hipped roofs. The central oriel at first floor level sits on three tall carved brackets. Further later extensions extend southwards from here.

The interior has been considerably modified in detail at ground floor level, though original features remain scattered throughout. The large room to the right has two rough chamfered transverse beams and a 20th-century fireplace, entered through the 4-centred doorway from the throughway. In the rear half is a late 16th-century chamfered and stopped beam. One room in the wing contains a very large rough chamfered beam and a 19th-century fireplace. The staircase from ground to first floor is 20th-century. Within the former throughway is a late staircase, with a smaller room to its left.

At first floor level, bedroom 2 includes two full-width moulded 16th-century beams. At the junction between the front range and wing, the upper stair is a dog-leg with splat balustrade, square newels and solid string. The main front rooms have plaster frieze and cornice. Bedroom 9 features an exposed wind-braced roof with very steep chamfered braces and a heavy purlin with run-out stops. Room 11 contains a 16th-century stone fireplace with a 4-centred arch. The wing has a corridor to the west side, crossed by beams running through from the bedrooms.

These premises, together with Nos 8 and 10, were rebuilt in the late 16th century by a canon resident in the Canonical House (The Exchequer), on the site of the Town Hall in what was then his garden. A small plaque on the front elevation states that William Penn preached here.