Description

This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 01/05/2019

SO 8318 NW
844-1/8/103

GLOUCESTER
CROSS KEYS LANE (north side)
Mercers' Hall

23/01/52

GV
II
Masonic hall. Late C19 but incorporating an early C17 framed roof and other timber-framing believed to have been removed from a market hall in Gloucester, and other timbers reputed to have been removed from a barn. Outer walls of brick under roughcast render, interlocking cast-cement tile roof with dormers. A long range from Cross Keys Lane along the west side of Mercers' Alley, with a canted angle at the corner of the lane and the alley.

EXTERIOR: two storeys; parapet with stone coping. Entrance doorway in the canted angle has a dressed stone surround with moulded jambs, shallow Tudor arch and eared hoodmould, possibly a feature reused from another building; double doors to entrance lobby.

INTERIOR: lobby with late C19 staircase at south end, to north a ground floor room seven bays long and two bays wide with central row of timber posts supporting massive lateral and cross beams with step-stopped chamfers, exposed joists; the side and end walls incorporate reused C16 timbers: in the side walls between bay posts a pair of curved tension braces and a rail at high level with three small panels above. On the first floor an open hall entered from an upper lobby at the south end; seven bay hall with the south end bay screened off to form a passage has an open timber, double-framed roof, its trusses with curved, chamfered, angle struts, through purlins, two tiers of wind braces, and exposed rafters. Three dormers on each side of roof in alternate bays have flat lead roofs, each dormer framed in timber with six arched lights, the lead-light glazing blocked from within; on the walls C20 panelling in C17style.

The scale of the timbers in the roof, the first-floor framing, and the central row of supporting posts suggests that they may all originate from the same building, supporting the received tradition that this was the former Mercers' Hall. Accommodation on the east side of Mercer's Alley reached by a gallery over the alley from the first floor lobby is not included.

Former Scheduled Ancient Monument.

Listing NGR: SO8308018547

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Mercers Hall at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q26561588

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

• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cumbria: Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair by Hunt. Roger ( 2008 ) Hardcover
• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
• 
  Northumberland (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)