5 AND 6, GREENMARKET

Details

CARLISLE

NY4055NW GREENMARKET 671-1/12/171 (North side) 01/06/49 Nos.5 AND 6 Guildhall (Formerly Listed as: GREENMARKET Guildhall (including Grill and Buttery on ground floor))

GV I

Formerly known as: Redness Hall GREENMARKET. Includes: Nos.58 AND 60 FISHER STREET. House (sometimes called Redness Hall), then Guildhall, now cafe with museum over. Documentary evidence suggests that the present building replaced an earlier structure which was burnt down in the fire that broke out in Carlisle on 4th May 1391 which also destroyed many other properties. The hall was probably constructed between 1396 and 1407 for Richard de Redness. An L-shaped, 3-storey, timber-framed building with 5 bays along Fisher Street and 3 bays on Greenmarket. Cumbrian slate roof laid to diminishing courses with one stack remaining at northern end of Fisher Street wing. The ground floor was probably open originally but it is now filled in with stuccoed walls and round-arched windows. The large timber posts are still evident and retain some of their decorative mouldings. The upper floors have moulded jetties and cornices. Only the posts are visible externally, the rest of the framing is hidden by rendering, together with weather-boarding on the first floor and medieval brick tile on the second floor. The framing of these floors is visible on the inside and consists of tall rectangular panels; those on the street side of the building are divided by a mid-rail and the lower half of these panels contain pairs of curved braces (rising from the tie-beam to a post or an intermediate stud). The framing of the cross-walls at first floor level has large concave braces (rising from the wall posts to the tie-beam) on each side of the building. The pattern on the second floor is slightly different, for the bracing on the street side consists of large convex/tension braces (rising from the tie-beam to the wall post). The opposite bracing is concave like the floor below. The infill of the panelling is mainly wattle and daub with medieval brick tile on the second floor. Some panels remain unrendered for display inside the museum. The original roof construction, although altered, still survives over the 5-bay Fisher Street section and consists of 4 crown posts. The crown posts are jowled on both sides and have a rectangular section. Part of the original collar plate survives with convex down-braces from post to tie and concave up-braces from post to plate. Although now hipped, the roof of this wing was originally gabled. The roof over the 3 bays of the Greenmarket wing appears to be a later replacement and consists of canted queen posts, clasped purlins and collared rafters. The purlins are clasped between the rafter and a canted or raked queen post which is jowled on the lower side. One of the trusses (which appears to be identical to the others) is clearly an insertion with a supporting post that is pegged onto the original timber framework. Documentary evidence suggests that these alterations to the medieval building, including the infilling of the ground floor, might have occurred between 1573 and 1662. Such a date for the queen post roof would be quite reasonable. The Greenmarket elevation has, on the first floor, Yorkshire sash windows with glazing bars and on the second floor sash and Yorkshire sash windows with glazing bars in brick reveals. Medieval gargoyles are plaster casts of originals in Carlisle Cathedral, first placed here in 1844; all except one on facade are 1978 replacements. Beside some windows are fixed hooks to support guild flags. Fisher Street elevation has ground floor 1988 shop windows; upper floor 2-light C15 cusped-headed window; plank-faced oriel with upper small casement windows with glazing bars. Other windows are casements and Yorkshire sashes. INTERIOR: complete except for removal of some internal partitions and no original stairs. Most of the timber-framing and roof trusses are exposed. Bronze plaque on stairs states that this opened as a museum in 1978. Further details are given in the Guildhall Museum leaflet.

Listing NGR: NY4003855976

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

386762

Legacy System:

LBS

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