Bridge House

WELLS

ST5445 ST JOHN STREET 662-1/7/256 (East side) 23/12/93 No.5 Bridge House

GV II

House at end or row. Possibly C17 origins, substantially rebuilt and extended in mid C18 and later C19. Rubble, rendered front, pantile roofs. PLAN: 2-room cross-passage plan plus later parallel range, with central valley gutter; original staircase position not known, C19 stair rises laterally to the right behind the original rear wall. EXTERIOR: 2 storeys, 3 bays, with broader bay to left, possibly earlier fire-bay; plain sashes in reveals, stone sills. Central 4-panel door under plain transom-light in Tuscan pilasters and with bold cyma cornice mould. Plinth, brick stack to right. The double gable to the right, rising directly from the adjacent St Andrew's Stream, has, centred at first floor, a pointed light with margin-pane glazing, and a small square attic light. The rear wall of the later range has 4-pane sashes to cambered heads in rubble walling, and central door under a narrow transom-light. There is a small lean-to extension to the right, corbelled over the stream. INTERIOR: earlier fabric obscured by restructuring in the C19. There is a stone-flagged cross passage, and to its right the front room has a large fireplace with stone cheeks and a deep wooden bressumer, but this appears to be recent. The room to the left, like most of those in the house, has a C19 fireplace and grate; some of these have decorative tile surrounds or inserts. The straight-flight stair rises to the right, behind the thick original outer wall, which retains 2 blocked openings, probably former windows, with deep splayed embrasures, and in proportion capable of taking 2-light C17 casements. The small projecting space off the ground-floor room is unexplained. The property holds an important position, immediately opposite the former St John's Priory (qv), from which the street is named.

Listing NGR: ST5481745538