Description

SO9422SE ST GEORGE'S PLACE
630-1/13/10013 Cheltenham
04-AUG-00 67-69
Formerly the Sadlers Wells Theatre

II

Puppet theatre, converted from an house; later used as a theatre, dwelling and eventually a garage. Converted 1795; for Samuel Seward. Red brick in English garden wall bond; extension at front rendered. Slate roof with gabled ends, apex of SE front gable has stone coping. Lateral stack on SW side with brick shaft.
PLAN: Rectangular single-cell plan with stage at NW end of auditorium. Later in the C19 the theatre was extended at the NE side and on the SE front.
EXTERIOR: 1 storey. The SE front is hidden by 2-storey 4-bay rendered range with sash windows without glazing bars [two blind] and two C20 garage at centre; set back behind is the stone-coped gable of the original building. SW side has two blocked cambered arch windows and blocked openings above under eaves. NW gable end has three windows, the centre is a large 16-pane sash flanked by two smaller 8-pane windows.
INTERIOR: Auditorium has plastered walls; slightly raised stage at NW end; short section of dado panelling on NE side; remains of fireplace on SW side. 4-bay collar and tie-beam roof. On original SE former front a stencil-painted sign: 'Sadlers Wells House'.
NOTE: Sadlers Wells Theatre was established in 1795 by Samuel Seward of Bristol as a puppet theatre. The theatre was converted from a dwelling. Seward was a talented actor, a member of Watson's Company, a very successful harlequin, a scene painter of renown and fashioner of automaton figures and marionettes. He ran the theatre with his wife and two sons, who helped paint the scenery. The puppet theatre continued for about thirty years. After Seward's death, it was re-opened in 1831 as the New Clarence Theatre.
SOURCE: Information provided by The Theatres Trust.

Listing NGR: SO9461222460

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q31941882

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

• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Hampshire: Winchester and the North (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]