Description

MALMESBURY

ST9386 ST JOHN'S STREET
758-1/3/305 (East side)
18/01/49 Court House to rear of No.27 and
attached wall

I

Medieval hospital building, Court House from 1623. Possibly
late C12, roof early C15, altered 1623.
Limestone rubble, rendered gable, brick gable stack and stone
slate roof.
PLAN: 3-bay plan at right-angles to street, originally
extended further to the E.
EXTERIOR: single storey; 3-window range. A right-hand doorway
with C20 door and C20 buttress to the left, and timber lintels
to casements with glazing bars; N elevation has mullion
windows with leaded lights. Purlins extend from E gable.
INTERIOR: details include a partly open roof with arch-braced
collar trusses, mortices for wind braces; steeply-battered
inner walls; C18 court fittings include a raised oak bench
with panelled back at W end for Warden and Capital Burgesses;
desks in front of dais with turned balusters and square
newels, the earliest date scratched on desks is 1745; panelled
screen or bar separates pit where 24 Assistant Burgesses
gathered in front of dais from public; court chest with 6
locks kept in pit, High Steward's chair on dais dates to 1842
with painted panel of Arms dated 1693.
SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: attached rubble wall extends approx 3m
from NE corner.
HISTORICAL NOTE: on site of Hospital of St John and possibly
one of the conventual buildings, purchased for the Old
Corporation 1580; almshouses from 1597, Court and Free School
from 1629. Old Corporation have held meetings here since 1616.
The projecting purlins and attached wall suggest the Court
House may have extended further.
An extremely rare surviving example of a medieval hospital
building; the C17 and C18 fittings represent a very rare and
significant example of a small provincial Court Room.
(Wiltshire Buildings Record: Trowbridge: WLBR B303).

Listing NGR: ST9353386969

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17529820

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

• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990
• 
  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Harrow on the Hill: A photographic portrayal of listed buildings and structures (Historic Buildings Picture Guides)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Yorkshire: York and the East Riding (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)