2 Hetling Court and Abbey Church House (formerly Hetling House), Bath, Bath and North East Somerset

Description

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HETLING COURT (south side)
No.2 and Abbey Church House (formerly Hetling House)

(Formerly Listed as: HETLING COURT No.2)

12/06/50

GV
II

House, now offices. Built 1570 for Edward Clarke, later owned by Sir Walter Hungerford, part destroyed by bombing in April 1942, restored 1953.

MATERIALS: squared limestone rubble with ashlar dressings, concrete tile roof.

PLAN: large many gabled house of typical late C16 form, to L-plan, with principal facade to Westgate Buildings, and long secondary frontage to Hetling Court.

EXTERIOR: three storeys, and basement, varied fenestration. West front has three gables above leaded casements with stone hollow mould mullions and transoms, and flat pointed heads to lights, to left wide canted bay, with narrower second storey having one:four:one-lights, to central king mullion and under stone hipped roof. First floor large one:six:one-light, also with king mullion and transom, and with hipped roofing beyond upper bay, above smaller three-light with transom. To right are two three-light with stopped drips, above deep three-light and four-light with transom and king mullion, ground floor has smaller four-light with transom and king mullion. Centre pair of plank doors set back to landing on three steps, in moulded surround with flat three-centred arch and spandrels. Moulded drip courses run full width above ground and first floors, coped gables, with small finials. To left of centre stack with three separate diagonal flues with cappings. Return to right has similar coped gable above plain walling, with one small three-light to stopped drip at second floor, and moulded drip carried round above first floor. Long return in Hetling Court in two parts, with continuous frontage. First has three high face gables, upper parts in ashlar, over three-light stone mullioned casements with drips as to main front. Beneath these are three tall two-light casements with twelve and six-panes in flush stone surround with recessed hollow mould, including central mullion, and straight drip, two of these windows close set as pair. To left smaller twelve-pane sash. Ground floor has two late C19 square lights and pair of inserted doors under deep transom light with stone mullion, and basement grille far right. Second section has three face gables with copings on stepped kneelers. Second floor three large paired twelve-pane sashes in flush moulded surrounds, with wood central sash boxes, above paired eight-pane sash in raised plat surround with straight drip, two plain sashes, in plat surrounds, and with common drip, but with pier of masonry between two. At ground floor are two small later extensions in ashlar, to left panelled door to splay, pair of glazed doors and nine-pane display window. To right, slightly higher and stepped back, three large plain sashes and door in deep recess. Both these under cornice with blocking course, not continuous. Various stacks to this part, including one to rear.

INTERIOR: the main staircase has balustrades typical of the transition from Tudor to renaissance. The Great Room is 47ft long by 18ft wide and about 15ft high with a raised dais at one end. Originally panelled to ceiling height with oak, it has been re-used as a dado. Large bay window with leaded lights and heraldic shields representing various Coats of Arms. Remarkable fireplace, the overmantle is ceiling high, similar character to South Wraxall Manor. Lower portion has Ionic pillars, well detailed orders and replacement dog grate and fire back of re-formed Portland Stone. Overmantle coarser and may be of later date. Pilasters taper from top to bottom flanking heraldic shield of Clarke family.

HISTORY: although severely damaged by bombing, is an important survival of its period in Bath. The site was recorded as being that of a leprosy hospital in 1136. Built for Bath MP Edward Clarke in c1550, it was later acquired by the physician Dr Robert Baker for housing wealthy patients in search of a cure before later becoming the residence of Sir Edward Hungerford in C17, when known as Hungerford House. It then passed to Lord Lexington who gave the property to Mrs Avill, a widow, in lieu of £100 legacy. It appears in Gilmore's 1694 map as `Mrs Savill's Lodgings Nere the hott Bath'. Alexander Pope stayed here and in 1746 Princess Caroline, George II's daughter. John Wood described it as `the second best House in the City'. Pre-war photographs show the extent of the rebuilding in 1953, including the whole of the facade onto Westgate Buildings, when the opportunity was taken to replace all the Georgian sash windows with C16 type lattice casements. This is virtually the only domestic survival from the C16 in Bath. It is the only building still existing which is shown on Gilmore's map of 1694, except for the Abbey. Nonetheless, it underwent major alteration in a campaign of the 1880s. The post-WW2 restoration was overseen by Mowbray Green and by Carpenter & Beresford Smith. No.2 Hetling Court was listed on 11th August 1972.

SOURCES: J.F. Meehan, `Hetling House' (1905); The Buildings of England: Pevsner N: North Somerset and Bristol: London: 1958-: 119; Hamilton M: Bath before Beau Nash: Bath: 1978-: 18, 44

Listing NGR: ST7492164656

External Links

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