22 Chamberlain Street

22 Chamberlain Street

This is a dwelling of medieval origins that comprises one half of what was formerly a larger house; the other half is now 20A Chamberlain Street (Grade II). The building underwent substantial alterations probably in the first half of the 18th century, including refronting and internal refurbishment. Early 21st-century alterations and a rear extension have since been added.

The house is constructed of stone rubble and brick, rendered and colour-washed, and roofed with triple-roll clay tiles and slate. Coped gables appear to the left, whilst the rear range is half-hipped at its east end. Brick ridge stacks sit at the gable ends and to the left of the entrance.

The building has a rectangular, double-pile plan and originally formed part of a larger L-shaped house. It comprises two parallel ranges, the rear one probably dating from the first half of the 18th century, with a single-storey, flat-roofed addition of the early 21st century to the rear.

The house presents two storeys with attics and a basement beneath the rear range. The principal south elevation fronts onto the street. Bays one and two to the left break forward slightly. To the right is a six-panel Regency pattern door with a shouldered surround, timber moulded architrave and a pediment hood on console brackets. A plinth, moulded cornice and plain parapet run across the elevation, continuing onto 20A Chamberlain Street. The sash windows have exposed boxes and architrave surrounds; the two ground-floor windows have twelve panes, whilst those to the first floor have nine panes. The left return features only a first-floor, late 19th-century sash window in the front range. The rear north elevation displays sash windows with exposed boxes, including a round-headed stair window to the far left.

Interior Features

The front ground-floor room contains a highly decorative Baroque scheme of high-quality carved timber considered to date from the 1720s. This features a modillion cornice with dentils and floral motifs in the interstices; a chair rail with gadrooning; recessed panels to the walls above the chair rail; and skirtings carved with scrolled acanthus and beading. The walls have recessed panelling. The chimneypiece has a grey marble inset within an eared surround carved with shells, foliage and beading, with a foliate frieze and a moulded and carved mantel. The mirrored overmantel has a pediment and an eared surround with egg and dart mouldings and carved shoulders festooned with fruit. The windows have panelled shutter boxes and eared architrave with scrolled shoulders. Three six-panel doors are present; two have ornamental cases with beaded architrave, a frieze of acorns, oak leaves and ribbons and a flat-moulded cornice, whilst the third, of later date, has a plainer surround and opens into the rear room.

At the north end of the entrance hall is a segmental-headed archway with a moulded cornice leading into the rear part of the house and to the stairs. A blocked doorway at this point formerly opened onto the other half of the building, now 20A.

The rear principal room has a decorative plaster scheme considered to date from around the 1730s, slightly later than the front room. It features a modillion cornice with dentils; a moulded chair rail and raised and fielded panels to the walls. The fireplace has a plain surround and mantel flanked by reeded pilasters with composite capitals and a plain entablature, framing raised and fielded panels to the overmantel. A doorway in the back wall, which previously opened onto the garden, provides access to an early 21st-century kitchen extension.

The staircase is of oak, with an open string course featuring moulded tread ends, scrollwork and foliate brackets, a reeve curtail and a ramped handrail. Timber panelling runs to the lower part of the walls. There are three turned balusters per tread, the central one having a barley-twist design. The ceiling above the stairs displays a plaster cartouche with a central foliate boss flanked by two heads representing Youth and Age, and a diamond and geometric pattern, set within a moulded frame. This is supported by relief carvings of a male and a female figure among drapery and acanthus leaves—perhaps a faun and a dryad respectively—within a rectangular frame edged with delicate carvings.

Several first-floor rooms retain early 18th-century fireplaces with hob grates. The rear bedroom has raised and fielded panels below the moulded chair rail, though it is understood to have been previously fully panelled. During early 21st-century renovation work, sketches and the signature of a Robert Davis, dated 1731, were uncovered on the walls in this room, but have since been covered over. Doors throughout are mostly six-panelled; a four-panelled door leads to the cellar.

The roof to the front range retains pegged principal rafters, a large chamfered tie beam with slots—probably for a closed truss—and a mix of threaded and staggered purlins. These timbers have been reinforced with later purlins and common rafters.

Setting and Boundaries

The large garden plot to the rear, subdivided in 2004, is bounded by random stone rubble walls of varying heights and different dates of construction. The wall on the west side has undergone repairs and substantial rebuilding, and is capped with concrete. A break in the wall provides access to the garden of 22A, constructed in 2004.