Description

HERTFORD

TL3213SW BYDE STREET, Bengeo
817-1/15/275 (West side)
12/04/73 The Old Pest House
(Formerly Listed as:
FARQUHAR STREET
The Pest House)

II

House, built as isolation hospital. Mid C18, altered and
embellished late C19. Red brick, Flemish bond, old tiled roof
with brick parapeted ends, and half Dutch gables at rear.
Elaborate brick chimneystacks left and right with moulded
bands and oversailing caps. Central raised tilehung
flat-roofed rear extension above lower slope of low swept-slip
roof.
EXTERIOR: first floor has outer 3-light, centre 2-light
small-panel iron casement windows with projecting frames and
moulded embattled heads raised on cut profiled corner
brackets. Plat band at first-floor level. Ground floor has 2
projecting moulded mullion and transom oriel bays with
small-paned iron casements, below old tile lean-to roofs, with
curved plastered spandrels below. Central 9-panel hardwood
door, upper 3-panels glazed with leaded light, with tiled
open-gabled and lean-to hood raised on braced brackets. Small
projecting windows on north gable, modern hip-roofed on south.
3 attic dormers at front with small-panel iron casements,
outer 2 with half-hipped, centre with hipped roof.
INTERIOR: not inspected.
HISTORICAL NOTE: the Old Pest House was built in 1763 as an
isolation hospital against smallpox by Thomas Dimsdale
(1712-1800) who lived at Port Hill House (qv), and the plot
adjoined his garden. Dimsdale purchased an extensive estate in
the area. Port Hill House was known as 'The Inoculation
House'.
(Turnor L: History of Hertford: Hertford: 1830-: 166-9; Green
L: Hertford's Past in Pictures: Ware: 1993-: 39, 162; Page FM:
History of Hertford: Hertford: 1993-: 118-120; Hertfordshire
Countryside: Roberts E: Thomas Dimsdale and the Victory over
Smallpox: -1980: 20-1).

Listing NGR: TL3209113227

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26682800

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair by Hunt. Roger ( 2008 ) Hardcover
• 
  Cumbria: Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Handbook 2 Books Bundle Collection (Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair,Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability)
• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Gloucestershire 1: The Cotswolds: Cotswolds Pt. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Care and Repair