3 And 5, St Thomas Street

A house, originally likely dating from the 14th century, and subsequently modified in the 17th and 19th centuries, stands at 3 and 5 St Thomas Street, Wells. The building is rendered with colourwashing over a rubble base, and has a clay pantiled roof with an abutment to the west and a continuation to the east. Brick and rendered chimney stacks are present. Nos. 3 and 5 were originally joined by a shared passageway, potentially a former screens passage. No. 3 may have served as a service room to the hall and inner room in No. 5. The layout shows later heightening and remodelling, with the passageway entry positioned beneath a front lateral stack, and sharing an early 17th-century roof structure. Rear extensions were added at a later date.

The exterior features two storeys with an attic. No. 3 has three bays of irregular fenestration. It has a 20th-century doorway with sidelight in the first bay, a composite sash window of 4+12+4 panes in the second, and a 12-pane sash window to the third. The first floor has three 12-pane sash windows, which are not aligned with those below. A raked dormer with a three-light small-pane casement window sits almost centrally on the roof. No. 5 features a single bay with a flat-roofed angled bay window of 3+15+3 panes, alongside a 12-pane sash window, and a 20th-century attic window in the east gable. The passageway is entered through a moulded pointed arched 14th-century doorway with an ancient plank door on strap hinges.

Inside No. 3, there are stop-chamfered beams and a staircase dated around 1700 with turned balusters and a newel. No. 5 features a timber-framed wall adjoining the passageway, stop-chamfered beams, and an open fireplace with a segmental wooden lintel. The property has a shared 17th-century collar-truss roof with tenoned collars and purlins. The building is believed to be the earliest secular house in Wells, though it has undergone significant remodelling since the 17th century.