Legion House And Attached Wall To Right

This is a mid-18th century house, now used as British Legion premises, situated on Castle Street in Bridgwater. It is a double-depth plan building with a rear wing to the right and later 20th-century extensions at the rear. The facade is constructed of Flemish bond brick, with a stone moulded coping to the high parapet, which has been rebuilt. It features a double Roman tile roof with brick stacks to the gable ends.

The building is two storeys with an attic, presenting a symmetrical five-window range. A dentilled brick cornice runs beneath the parapet. The windows are 6/6-pane sashes, some with crown glass, set within shallow segmental brick arches. Brick platbands delineate the floors below the windows. A segmental brick arch leads to a basement opening on the left side, and semicircular steps ascend to the front door. The door itself is an eight-panel design with the top two panels shaped as quadrants, incorporating a small triangular panel and a large bronze knocker. The doorcase has a moulded cornice resting on consoles, topped by an eared and moulded architrave with a keystone.

The right return displays flat gauged brick arches over late 19th-century 2/2-pane sash windows with horns, and a gauged brick semicircular-arched stair window. A mid-19th century canted bay window is present to the first floor of the rear wing, featuring a large 6/6-pane sash window with crown glass. Late 19th-century paired fixed windows, each with semicircular stone arches and bracketed cills, are situated to the right.

Inside, the stairs above the first floor have a moulded rail and stick balusters. Two plaster panels, dating from around 1770, depicting scenes from Roman life are displayed. A room on the left of the first floor retains its 19th-century cornices, skirting boards, and a four-panel door. The rear wing’s first floor room includes an eared architrave over a door with six raised and fielded panels, a large 19th-century elliptical-arched recess, a cornice with an ornamental frieze, a painted slate fireplace, a foliate plaster ceiling rose, and classical detailing added to the architrave of the canted bay window. The rear door has plain, unmoulded panels and a large L-hinge and lock.

A high Flemish bond brick wall, attached to the right of the facade, extends just above the platband. Within the wall are a stone lintel to a blocked door and a flat gauged brick arch to a blocked window, likely belonging to former conservatory openings at the rear. The right section of the wall continues into Queen Street, having been rebuilt. The terraces of houses in Castle Street are notable for their scale and ambition, particularly outside of London’s West End.