Greyfriars And Attached Garden Walls To The Rear

This is a mid-18th century house located on Friarn Street in Bridgwater. It is built of Flemish-bond brick with stone coping, a cornice, a band, stepped voussoirs, a platband, and a doorcase. The roof is a mansard style covered in pantiles, with brick stacks featuring restored cornices to the gable ends. The house follows a two-unit central hall plan, with a long wing extending at a right angle to the right. It is two storeys high with an attic, and has a symmetrical five-window facade. The dormers are 20th century additions. The remaining windows on the front elevation are 6/6-pane sash windows. The front door is a six-panel design, glazed to the top and raised-and-fielded below, set within a moulded architrave with consoles supporting a pediment.

The rear wall is of English bond brick to the ground floor and Flemish bond brick above, indicating a significant reconstruction. The interior central hall has stone flagging and a box cornice with a fluted frieze. A room on the ground floor to the right, originally a stairhall, features late 19th century tongued-and-grooved boarding in the lower part. It contains a 18th century square stone fire surround with a later wooden reeded frame, a mantel shelf with a cupboard to the right, and a six-panel door with added moulding. The room to the ground floor left has a similar cornice to the hall, a dado rail, thick 18th century skirting board, panelled divided shutters, an 8/8-pane sash window to the rear, and a late 19th century grey marble fireplace. A first room within the rear wing has a wooden surround to an open fire against the rear wall.

The garden behind the house extends down to Durleigh Brook and is enclosed by brick garden walls, approximately 50 meters to the east, 30 meters to the west, and 10 meters to the south. The section of wall closest to the house has Ham Hill stone capping, while the remainder have various other stone caps. Local tradition suggests the house was built for a tanner who had a tannery across the stream, and that the adjacent property, No. 35, was later constructed for the same family, explaining the similarity of design and the early 19th century alterations made to this house.