Description

WARE TOWN

TL3514SE WEST STREET 829-1/9/184 (North side) 14/03/74 No.15 Churchgate House (Formerly Listed as: WEST STREET No.15)

II*

House, now shop and workshop with flats above. C15, altered C16 and subsequently extended. Several ranges of buildings around small central courtyard. Timber-framed, colourwashed pebbledash, cement plinth. Old tile roofs, with gable end on south-east corner, irregularly spaced chimneystacks, red and yellow bricks, C19, with oversailing courses. EXTERIOR: 2 storeys. Continuous first floor jetty, partly underbuilt on main east elevation facing the path to the churchyard, and along the south elevation to West Street itself. The south-east corner with the 2 way jetty is marked by a heavy timber exposed dragon post, with roll moulding. The projecting joist ends above are covered by a timber fascia. First floor with 3 flush-set sash windows, with exposed boxes, and small panes to east, 3 to south including one mid C18, with heavy quadrant glazing bars. Ground floor has an early C20 shopfront at left on the east elevation, with elaborate carved console brackets beneath jetty, 2 closed plate glass windows, with pierced cast-iron strip vents above, and timber frames. Central arcaded half-glazed door set between twin pilasters. Subsidiary shop entry to right, with small plate glass window and half-glazed door, and curved bracket support to jetty above. Further closed windows along West Street beneath jetty, and twin modern boarded doors giving access to central courtyard. The north range, plastered, part brick, with old tiled roof, 2 storeys, returns along path south of churchyard. INTERIOR: different stages of construction and alteration can be identified. The south-east cross-wing originally extended 2 bays along West Street. The original end wall, and the party wall to No.16 adjacent, retain sections of combed pargeting indicating C17 infilling. The south-east range has a 2 bay crown post roof, indicating a C15 construction date. The north-east range partly oversails the south-east range, with a gablet appearing above the ridge of the latter's roof. Substantial tie-beams are exposed at first floor level. The north-east room has heavy exposed studwork, long jowled posts and evidence for 2 small unglazed windows, with shutter grooves, and a first floor external door at the north-east corner. Crown post roof above inserted ceiling. The north range incorporates an inserted baker's oven on the ground floor. The floor level has been lowered. Above the first floor is a 4 bay trussed rafter roof, with cranked cambered tie-beams, side purlins, with curved windbracing, housed in the principal rafters, with high level collars above. Remnant of a braced studded partition on centre truss. This roof overlaps the south range, of C18 date, and is also truncated at its junction with the higher north-east corner. The building is known as Churchgate House. Ware Charity Trustees deeds indicate a possible early C16 origin as the residence of a chantry priest, who also taught at the Free Grammar School across the church path, now demolished. It was subsequently a bakery and the home of a brewer. (Edwards E and Perman D: Ware's Past In Pictures: Ware: 1991-: 14; Perman D: Ware UD. List of buildings of special arch or historic interest: 1993-: 63-4; Ware 25" to 1 Mile. Surveyed by the Ordnance Survey Department: 1851-; Forrester H: Timber Framed Buildings in Hertford and Ware: Hitchin: 1964-: 41).

Listing NGR: TL3569714385

External Links

• Wikidata Q17554047

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Recommended Books

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  Liverpool: Pevsner City Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
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  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair by Hunt. Roger ( 2008 ) Hardcover
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  London 3: North West: North West v. 3 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Hampshire: South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Yorkshire: York and the East Riding (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)