Description

WELLS

ST5445 SADLER STREET
662-1/7/237 (East side)
12/11/53 Brown's Gatehouse

GV I

Gateway to churchyard, 1451, by Bishop Beckynton as part of
his "New Works". Local stone rubble with Doulting stone
dressings, Welsh slate roof with coped gables behind parapets,
stone chimney stack to south gable.
EXTERIOR: 2 storeys, single bay, with abutment on north side.
Ground floor has wide 4-centred arch without side columns or
capitals, having carved tablet decoration on west face, above
is a central 3-light mullioned window, now blocked, with
square recessed panels on either side, and on extreme right a
statue niche with semicircular arched head, the base corbelled
and linked to ground floor by an attached shaft, string course
under parapet, parts of which are now missing, and indication
of former corner pinnacles.
East elevation to Cathedral Green simpler, with battlemented
parapet, first floor has central 3-light chamfer-mullioned
window with square label.
North elevation has a plain gable, the smaller abutment is
about two-thirds the tower height, in bands of Doulting ashlar
and local stone, apparently with a flat roof, on west face to
Saddler Street a 4-centre pedestrian archway with almost
square panel over, with 2 putlog holes to left, and a small
cusped- arched window immediately under the parapet string
course.
North elevation of abutment plain, and only about 2m wide.
Soffit of archway has an 8-panel vault with hollow-chamfered
ribs and foliated boss. The north wall of the undercroft has a
central shaft, and 2 openings into the pedestrian way.
The pedestrian passage has a rough pointed barrel vault, with
an access doorway, presumably to a staircase in the abutment.
INTERIOR: not inspected.
HISTORICAL NOTE: the gatehouse takes its name from one Richard
Brown, the 1553 tenant of No.20 adjoining (qv); in C19 it was
sometimes referred to as "The Dean's Eye"; with the three
buildings attached to the south, it cost 200 marks to build.
Scheduled Ancient Monument Somerset No.233.

Listing NGR: ST5494345853

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Brown's Gatehouse, Wells at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q4975945

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)
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects by Harwood, Richard (2012) Paperback
• 
  Hampshire: Winchester and the North (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
• 
  Cornwall (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Harrow on the Hill: A photographic portrayal of listed buildings and structures (Historic Buildings Picture Guides)