Description

LICHFIELD

SK1109NE THE CLOSE 1094-1/5/209 (South side) 05/02/52 Nos.23A AND 23B and attached wall and gate (Formerly Listed as: THE CLOSE No.23)

GV II*

House, now divided into two, with attached wall to left. Substantial remains of late C15 house, remodelled and roofs renewed using old timber in early C18, extensively remodelled and front built c1812. Brick with some blue brick diapering and dressed stone to basement; tile roof with crow-stepped gables and brick end stacks. PLAN: double-depth plan with rear wing projecting to left return. Georgian Gothick style. EXTERIOR: 2 storeys; symmetrical 5-window range with recessed block connecting with No.24 (qv). Top cornice and embattled parapet with gabled kneelers. Entrance has hipped shallow porch with angle buttresses and 4-centred arch, half-glazed inner door has Y-tracery glazing. Windows have rubbed brick flat arches and hollow-chamfered reveals to paired 8-pane sashes with Y-tracery heads; brick label moulds. Recessed block has similar windows with single sashes. Left return has 2-window rear wing and re-entrant C20 porch; segmental-headed coachhouse door to wing; most windows have 2-light leaded casements with iron opening casements, one late C19 triangular oriel. Rear 4-window range, projecting gabled ends; basement has much very early brick with signs of diapering, some early brick to upper floors. Windows as to front, paired and triple sashes, some to right end partly blocked and painted; basement has 2 windows with 4-centred heads and leaded glazing, similar entrance; attic has 2-light leaded windows. Ground floor window to left end has iron balcony on enriched openwork pier, balcony and steps to French window to right end. Right return has some brick diapering, cross, and ?St Peter's keys; steps to ground floor entrance; pointed 2-light Y-tracery stair window with leaded glazing and 9-pane sash with cambered head; small windows to basement. Wall attached to front left is probably c1812, brick with cogged cornice and embattled parapet; gabled gate piers with pointed panels and paired plank gates. Spur of wall to each end of rear built of fragments of tracery etc. INTERIOR: stair hall has c1812 screen of three 4-centred arches on octagonal piers; C18 open-well stair, repaired 1900, has turned balusters, square newels and moulded ramped handrail, slender balusters to top; front right room has early C19 fireplace; cloakroom with good late C19 basin on enriched cast-iron stand. Basement has stone front wall; brick right wall has 2 Tudor-arched openings, now blocked, and part of a 3rd; cellar to front left has wine bins. Although much altered, this is one of the original houses of the close. (Victoria History of the County of Stafford: Greenslade M W: Lichfield: Oxford: 1990-: P.66; Drury P: The Capitular Estate of Dean and Chapter of Lichfield Cathedral: 1987-).

Listing NGR: SK1150909688

External Links

• Wikidata Q17557735

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Recommended Books

• 
  Northumberland (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Leeds, Bradford and the North (Pevsner Architectural Guides / Buildings of England)
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  Georgian Style and Design for Contemporary Living
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  Yorkshire: York and the East Riding (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  For the Record