Description

1.
5180 HIGH STREET
(South Side)
No 44
(Birdwood House)
SX 8060 SW 1/56 25.3.69.

II GV

2.
Later C16 or early C17 merchant's house of "deux corps de batiments" type, still
retaining the little and great courts at the rear. Refronted late C18. The building
was formerly known as Somerset House, later as Paynes House. Formerly the residence
of the Babbage family and also of William Payne, innkeeper, and mayor in 1707 and
1728 Dr Roger Birdwood, mayor in 1781, 1789 and 1795 also lived here. 3 storeys
and central dormer. Symmetrical front with 3 windows. Hipped Welsh slate roof
with rendered stacks and projecting eaves with coved cornice. Plastered front still
retaining moulded granite corbel of former 1st floor jetty. Flat headed casement
dormer with glazing bars. Architraved sash windows with glazing bars. Ground floor
3 bay loggia over pavement carried by granite Tuscan columns bearing entablature.
Central doorway with rectangular fanlight and raised and fielded panel door. Interior
with late C18 open well staircase to upper floors with carved brackets, turned balusters,
octagonal column newels and moulded, ramped handrails. Interior remodelled earlier
C19. At rear C16 detached kitchen block connected to house by passage on site of
former gallery.
Former kitchen block 2 storeys. 1 window. Bitumenised Welsh slate roof. Devonian,
random linestone rubble gable wall. Close-studded timber-framed front with chamfered
studs and bressumers. Plaster panels. 1st floor with 4 light, mullioned window
with ogee mouldings and C19 fenestration. Ground floor with remains of similar
3 light window. At rear of kitchen and connected by passage 3 storey warehouse
Welsh slate roof. Devonian limestone rubble gable wall. Slate-hung timber framed
front with modern openings. (M Laithwaite).

Listing NGR: SX8009560438

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26529585

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

• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Huddersfield in 50 Buildings
• 
  Renovating Old Houses: Bringing New Life to Vintage Homes (For Pros By Pros)
• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)