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

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17554047

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

• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)
• 
  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Renovating Old Houses: Bringing New Life to Vintage Homes (For Pros By Pros)