Description

WELLS

ST5445 GLASTONBURY ROAD
662-1/5/76 (North side)
13/09/72 Wells Infirmary, main block (also
known as Priory Hospital)

GV II

Former workhouse, now hospital. 1845, by ST Welch, extended
1871. Local stone squared and coursed, with Bath stone
dressings, Welsh slate roofs between coped gables, brick
chimney stacks.
EXTERIOR: mostly 2 storeys, but with 3-storey centre crossing
south elevation of 15 bays, of which bays 1 and 15, and the
central bays 6 to 10, project slightly. In a Tudor style. Bays
1 and 15 have angled corner buttresses with single offsets and
pinnacles, the gables also having central pinnacles, with band
course to first floor sills, single-light 4-centre arched
windows to both floors with arched labels, steel casements
inserted, trefoil panels in gables.
Bays 2 to 5 and bays 11 to 14 have rectangular windows with
square labels. Of the central projecting bays, bay 6 and 10
have corner buttresses and pinnacles, and bays 7 and 9 are
canted so that bay 8 has a greater projection, these bays
three storey, forming south end of the central crosswing.
Plain doorways to bays 6 and 10 and plain rectangular windows
to ground floor bays 7 and 9, the first floor bays have
2-light 'Y'-traceried windows with transoms and arched labels
to all but bay 8, which in a matching 4-light window. The
second-floor windows to this section have square windows on
the splays and another 4-light window to bay 8, over which is
a statue recess in the pinnacled gable.
The main entrance in bay 8 has a pair of panelled doors in a
4-centre arch flanked by two lancet windows, over which is a
pediment hood on brackets and a wrought-iron bracket for a
light, the door approached by 5 steps with simple wrought-iron
handrail.
The side crosswings have some 12-pane sash windows in
segmental arched openings, these are echoed in the Red Cross
medical loan store attached at the north end of the west wing
by a short link wing. The taller centre crosswing has 5 bays,
then canted ends leading to an octagonal tower in the centre,
with a matching 5-bay unit northwards, again mostly with sash
windows in segmental arched-openings.
INTERIOR: not inspected.
(Buildings of England: Pevsner N: North Somerset and Bristol:
London: 1958-: 326).

Listing NGR: ST5435545131

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26662941

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

• 
  Old House Handbook 2 Books Bundle Collection (Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair,Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability)
• 
  Department for Communities Listed Historic Buildings of Northern Ireland: Information Guide for the 2nd Survey of Historic Buildings
• 
  Sussex: East with Brighton and Hove (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 3: North West: North West v. 3 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)