Description

679/14/229 WOOLSHOPS
03-NOV-54 (North side)
1

(Formerly listed as:
WOOLSHOPS
3 AND 5)

II*
Café, formerly 2 dwellings, late C16/early C17.

MATERIALS: random coursed dressed stone, timber framed with herring bone bracing to the upper floors on the south and west sides, stone slate roofs.

PLAN: the building is three storey with a central stone chimney stack (truncated), and was formerly divided into two separate units each with a single cell over three floors.

EXTERIOR: The south elevation has two bays and both first and second floors are jettied. The entrance on the ground floor is to the right with a 2-light window with leaded glass immediately to the left and a further 2-light window in the left bay: both windows are altered. On the first floor the left bay has been plastered but the right bay has close herring bone studding which extends across the whole front at second floor level and into the two gables above. The first and second floor windows are 4-light wood mullioned casements with leaded glazing apart from the first floor right hand window which is a canted bay with mullions and transoms. There is a small leaded window in each of the two gables. There are shaped barge boards to the gables. To the right the stonework continues up to the roof with a pilaster which bears an inscribed date of 1670 in the second floor section. The stonework of this part of the pilaster is different from that surrounding it.

The west elevation is also jettied but the timber framing is only visible on the second floor and in the twin gables above where it is similar to that to the south. The windows are two 3-light timber mullioned and leaded on the first and second floors (modern replacements), an altered 3-light window on the ground floor. A projecting stone pillar on the left side appears to be structurally part of a building that formerly abutted this one. The east elevation has a small first floor leaded, round-arched window and a 2-light mullioned window at the second floor, both probably later inserts, possibly re-used from elsewhere.

INTERIOR: The ground floor interior is altered, though the central chimney stone stack remains and there are ceiling beams in the eastern half. An inserted opening between the two parts shows a massively constructed stone wall between the two former properties. Stairs lead down to the cellars and an enclosed staircase to the rear leads up to the first floor. This has two rooms. To the right the central stone chimney stack has an opening for a fireplace and a beamed ceiling with large joists, mostly chamfered and those entering the stone wall with chamfer stops. Some joist and rafters are replacements. The window frame is modern but there is an original timber post adjacent to the stone dividing wall. The left room also has a beamed ceiling with heavy joists and a dragon beam to the jettied outer corner. The majority of the joists and rafters are chamfered, some with stops, and there is evidence of re-use of some timbers. The chamfer stops are in a variety of shapes, mainly roughly made. The staircase to the second floor is a modern insertion. The second floor is open to the roof structure. The stone chimney stack continues but with blocked openings, and the walls are plastered between vertical timbers rising to a wall plate at eaves level (some timbers later replacements). The double main roof structure has a king post truss on each side of the chimney stack (partly obscured by a partition to the right), with heavy tie-beams and purlins, with additional timbers forming gables at right angles to the main roof. Some timbers are later replacements, and some show evidence of re-use. The windows are leaded with modern timber replacement frames, apart from the two small windows in the east wall which are leaded with stone surrounds.

HISTORY: The house has a date stone of 1670 on a pilaster, but more probably has its origins earlier in the late C16/early C17 . Little is known of its early history, but it appears to have been built as two adjoining properties, and remained so during the C19 and most of the C20. In the last quarter of the C20, buildings abutting the rear (north side) and east side were demolished and the building became a detached single property. It was listed in 1954 as Nos 2/3 Woolshops and was renumbered as No 1 in the 1980s. It presently operates as a café.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION:
No 1 Woolshops is designated at II* for the following principal reasons:
* Architecture: it a very rare survival of half-timbering in an area where stone buildings are now the norm
* Rarity: it has more than special interest as the last surviving timber-framed house in central Halifax, and as such is an important relic of the pre-industrial town which is not represented elsewhere.
* Interior features: the building has extensive survival of original timber work extending over three floors and including a complete roof structure, dragon beam to the first floor jettied corner as well as wall framing and a central stone chimney stack

Reasons for Listing

Yes, amend

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17542842

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

• 
  Liverpool: Pevsner City Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  England's Post-War Listed Buildings
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Sheffield and the South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gloucestershire 2: The Vale and The Forest of Dean: Vale and Forest of Dean Pt. 2 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)