Bridge House

Bridge House is a house located at the end of a row on St John Street in Wells. It likely has origins from the 17th century but was significantly rebuilt and extended in the mid-18th century and later in the 19th century. The building features a rubble construction with a rendered front and pantile roofs.

The house has a two-room cross-passage plan along with a later parallel range that includes a central valley gutter. The original position of the staircase is unknown, but a 19th-century stair rises laterally to the right, behind the original rear wall.

The exterior is two storeys high with three bays, including a broader bay on the left that may have been an earlier fire-bay. It has plain sash windows set in reveals with stone sills. The central entrance consists of a four-panel door beneath a plain transom light, framed by Tuscan pilasters and topped with a bold cyma cornice mould. There is a plinth and a brick stack to the right. The double gable on the right, which rises directly from the adjacent St Andrew's Stream, features a pointed light with margin-pane glazing at the first floor and a small square attic light. The rear wall of the later range has four-pane sashes with cambered heads set in rubble walling, along with a central door beneath a narrow transom light. A small lean-to extension is located to the right, corbelled over the stream.

Inside, earlier features have been obscured by 19th-century renovations. The stone-flagged cross passage leads to the right, where the front room contains a large fireplace with stone cheeks and a deep wooden bressumer, although this appears to be a recent addition. The room to the left, like most in the house, has a 19th-century fireplace and grate, some of which feature decorative tile surrounds or inserts. The straight-flight stair rises to the right, behind the thick original outer wall, which retains two blocked openings that were likely former windows, capable of accommodating 17th-century two-light casements. There is also a small projecting space off the ground-floor room that remains unexplained.

Bridge House holds an important position directly opposite the former St John's Priory, from which the street derives its name.