The Chantry And The Hermitage

This building, comprising Nos 2 (The Chantry) and 2A (The Hermitage) on Gentle Street, is said to have been the Marquess of Bath’s town house, dating from the late 17th century. The construction features rubble walls and pantile roofs, with the building arranged over two and a half storeys and displaying three gables. The front elevation has a series of sash windows with glazing bars, set within plain architraves with beaded edges. A circa 1770 panelled door features cross lower panels and a cusped centre, topped with a bracketed pediment. A later, plain doorway is positioned to the right, leading to a studded 17th-century door. A cellar door is located below the left-hand window.

The rear elevation is particularly noteworthy, with two hipped projections: the right-hand one is two storeys with two windows and rendered finish, while the left-hand one is two and a half storeys and has a mansard roof, including a segmental-headed dormer with a glazing bar sash window. A bay to the rear has an ashlar front, angled quoins, and glazing bar sash windows within architraves with keys. A traceried fanlight illuminates the doorway. A back door to No 2A is framed by a stop-moulded ogee surround. To the left of this door is a late 17th-century two-light mullion window with ogee moulding.

The interior of No 2 includes a 'priest's hole', a small barrel-vaulted chamber off the entrance hall, featuring a fine panelled door. Behind this door is an 18th-century segment-headed fireplace in the kitchen. No 2's interior was remodelled circa 1770 when a bay extension was added to the rear. The staircase has a heavy moulded handrail and carved cut string, which may be of earlier origin, and includes a fine display cabinet in a room to the east of the kitchen. The bay window room in No 2A has mahogany doors (one original) and an enriched ceiling cornice. The room above contains a bed recess flanked by powder cupboards. No 2A also retains a portion of a winder stair, connecting the first to the second floor, along with a blocked stair window and heavy balusters across the landing.