Description

WELL STREET
TQ 7552 LOOSE
(East Side)
6/208 The Wool House
(formerly listed
25.7.52 as The Old Wool
House, Wool House
Cottage) and
Garden wall to
north and east
GV II*

House, or pair of houses, probably associated with the wool trade.
Wool House Cottage mid C16, with later rear wing. The Wool House
early C17. Both restored in 1920's. Timber framed, with plaster
infilling. Ground floor of The Wool House rendered. Plain tile roof.
Wool House Cottage built at right-angles to road, facing north, with later rear
return wing to west side. The Wool House was added to the front of
the right (west) end bay of the Cottage, running north from it and
facing east away from the road. Until about 1940, and possibly
originally, the buildings intercommunicated.
WOOL HOUSE COTTAGE: lobby entry plan of 3 timber-framed bays, including
narrow central stack bay. Rear return wing 2½ timber-framed bays.
Main range 2 storeys and attic, wing 2 storeys. Stone plinth.
Right side (Well Street) elevation: close-studding of thin scantling.
Gunstock jowls and tension braces to broad gable end of main range.
Roof of main range half-hipped to road, with gablet. Wing gabled to south,
with lower ridge. Gable end stack to wing. Irregular fenestration of
3 small casements; one 2-light to gable end of main range, one 2-light
to left bay of wing and one 3-light to right. Half-glazed door to
left bay of wing. Wool House added to left (north), and set closer
to street. North (former front) elevation: continuous jetty, obscured
at west end by addition of The Wool House. Central brick ridge stack,
with blocked doorway under. First floor pargetted. Interior: exposed
framing. Rebated gunstock-jowled posts to rear wing. Mortices for
4-light diamond mullion first-floor south window, obscured by later
rear wing. 2-light diamond mullion window to north side of stack
bay. Chamfered stone fireplaces to ground floor, and another smaller
to first floor. Stone fireplace to gable end of wing. Clasped purlin
roof with diminishing principal rafters, and windbraces. Attic floor
joists rebated for boards. C16 wall-painting of teazles to east ground-
floor chimney breast.
THE WOOL HOUSE: lobby entry plan of 4 timber-framed bays including narrow
stack bay. 2 storeys and attic. Stone plinth, higher to Well Street
side on account of slope. Close-studded, with dropped tie-beam.
Rear (Wall Street) elevation: plain bargeboards to left gable end.
Brick ridge stack in narrow second bay from left (north) end. Irregular
fenestration of 3 leaded ovolo-moulded mullioned casements morticed
for diamond subsidiary mullions; one 6-light to left (north) end bay,
one 4-light to third (south-central) bay from left and one 5-light to
south end bay. Blocked 3-light window under stack with 2-light ovolo-moulded
mullion window below it. 5 small leaded casements to ground floor.
Front (garden) elevation: irregular fenestration of 4 ovolo-moulded
mullioned windows with diamond subsidiary mullions; one 10-light
mullioned and transomed window to each of the 3 principal bays, south
end bay with 2-light frieze windows and south-central and north end
bays with 3-light frieze windows. 2-light ovolo-moulded mullion
window beneath stack, with door to ground floor under. Interior:
exposed framing of heavy scantling. Edge-halved scarf joints.
Chamfered axial beam and bevelled joists to each end room on each
floor. Ovolo-moulded axial beam to south-central room on each floor.
4 chamfered stone fireplaces to stack, each with wooden bressumer;
carved chamfer-stops to south-central room on each floor, plain to
north room on each floor. C20 stairs to west side of stack, probably
in C17 position. Clasped purlin roof with windbraces, interrupted
tie-beams, and vertical queen-struts to collars. Garden wall:
roughly coursed ragstone. Runs north for about 3 metres from north-
west corner of The Wool House, then turns east for about 40 metres.
Diminishes in height from about 3½ to about 2 metres on account of
slope. Included for group value.
Property of the National Trust. (J.C.B. Statham, The Romance of a
Tudor House, 1929).

Listing NGR: TQ7558552090

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17545300

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

• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Department for Communities Listed Historic Buildings of Northern Ireland: Information Guide for the 2nd Survey of Historic Buildings
• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Staffordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Harrow on the Hill: A photographic portrayal of listed buildings and structures (Historic Buildings Picture Guides)