Description

WELLS

ST5445 MARKET PLACE
662-1/7/162 (East side)
31/07/70 Post Office

GV II

Former market house, now Post Office. 1835, by R Carver.
Doulting stone ashlar, hipped Welsh slate roof to centre
porch, flat roof to sides, ashlar chimney stack.
EXTERIOR: one-and-half storey central section of 5 bays, with
2 set-back single-storey four-bay wings, each end bay further
recessed. In a strict classical form. Plinth, Tuscan pilasters
to ends and corners, and attached Tuscan columns between bays
and doubling with pilaster to outer bays of central section;
full frieze with metopes, cornice, and pediments to outer bays
of centre portion, plain parapets.
Semicircular arched openings to all bays, with side impost,
architraves and keystones, keystones, the openings now filled
with plain windows except extreme left bay, with a 6-panel
door, bay 5 of central portion with a pair of doors, bay 2 of
right wing a pair of doors, and the extreme right bay has
carriage doors, part glazed. The upper storey has 3 slim
semicircular arched window to the 3 middle bays, with matching
panels over bays 1 and 5 above the pediments, plain parapet.
The rear elevation is rendered, and extremely plain by
contrast; the central hipped roof section has glazing at the
ridge, and lean-tos at each side run down to long flat-roofed
wings. The centre block has 9 small arched slit-lights above
1+3 square lights at the lower level, and to each side are
1:3:1 two and 3-light casements. All these windows are barred
externally.
INTERIOR: has not retained any features of interest to ground
floor.
HISTORICAL NOTE: in a photograph of 1902 the building is shown
with the arcade still not enclosed; they were filled with
panels and windows in the following year.
(Buildings of England: Pevsner N: North Somerset and Bristol:
London: 1958-: 325; Blue Guide: Orbach J: Victorian
Architecture in Britain: London: 1987-: 378; Howell C: Wells
in Old Photographs: Gloucester: 1989-: 36).

Listing NGR: ST5506545761

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26663003

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

• 
  Harrow on the Hill: A photographic portrayal of listed buildings and structures (Historic Buildings Picture Guides)
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Leeds, Bradford and the North (Pevsner Architectural Guides / Buildings of England)
• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
• 
  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of Historic Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)