3-12, BLUECOAT YARD

Details

TL3514SE
829-1/9/46
08/05/50

WARE TOWN
BLUECOAT YARD
(West side)
Nos.3-12 (Consecutive)
(Formerly Listed as:
BLUECOAT YARD
Nos.3-12 (each item listed separately))

GV
II*

Terrace of 10 houses, all one building, built as `nurse
cottages' for Bluecoat School. c1687-89. Timber-framed,
plastered, pebbledashed and colourwashed, old tiled roof,
above coved plastered eaves cornice, with one gabled casement
dormer to each dwelling, 5 red brick chimneys, with projecting
central flue giving T-plan, with oversailing courses.
EXTERIOR: 2 storeys and attics. One 3-light casement with
glazing bars on ground and first floors of each dwelling. Nos
3 and 12 at block ends have single entrance doors, recessed in
architrave frames with weatherboard heads; entrance doors of
remainder paired - Nos 4 and 5, 6 and 7, 8 and 9, 10 and 11.
Nos 7 and 8 have doors with 2 flush panels, the remainder have
late C20 replacement doors. Rear elevation has small-paned
casement windows, ground and first floors, and the eaves line
broken by four large gabled dormers, with 2 small plain-glazed
casement windows, which house the upper flights of the
staircases giving access to the attics of each pair.
Irregularly spaced C20 casement dormers light rear attics used
as habitable rooms. Behind each dwelling, and linked in some
by a covered passageway, is a single storey continuous range
of washhouses, mid C19 before 1851, colourwashed plastered
brickwork, mainly old tiled roofs, but some with corrugated
asbestos.
INTERIORs: the cottages are simply fitted with ledged plank
doors with strap hinges, newel stairs, and evidence of re-used
structural timber.
HISTORICAL NOTE: Christ's Hospital purchased the Bluecoat Yard
buildings in November 1685. Between June 1687 and November
1689 craftsmen were paid over »730 for building work,
including construction of the cottages, which provided
lodgings, under the supervision of nurses, for 150 boys. A
Portland stone tablet in the south garden wall of No.3, reset
in rebuilt brickwork records: `This wall was built in the sole
charge of the Governors of Christ's Hospital in the year
1737'.
(The Buildings of England: Pevsner N (rev. Cherry B):
Hertfordshire: Harmondsworth: 1977-: 379; Forrester H: Timber
Framed Buildings in Hertford and Ware: Hitchin: 1964-: 47-48;
Smith JT: Hertfordshire Houses. Selective Inventory: London:
1993-: 196-7; Perman D: Ware UD. List of buildings of special
arch or historic interest: 1993-: 13; Rowe V Dr: The Bluecoat
Children in Ware 1564-1761: Ware Society: 1983-; Ware 25" to 1
Mile. Surveyed by the Ordnance Survey Department: 1851-; The
Victoria History of the County of Hertford: London: 1912-:
381; Christ's Hospital Archives Map: 1685-; Christ's Hospital
Archives, Building Accounts: 1680-1697; East Herts
Archaeological Society Transactions 1932-33: Lee WH: The Old
Blue-coat School Ware: Hertford: 1934-: 333-7).

Listing NGR: TL3590114378

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

412281

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Doubleday, A, The Victoria History of the County of Hertford, (1912), 381
Forrester, H, Timber Framed Buildings in Hertford and Ware, (1964), 47-48
Smith, J T, Hertfordshire Houses Selective Inventory, (1993), 196-7
Pevsner, N, Cherry, B, The Buildings of England: Hertfordshire, (1977), 379
Lee, W H, The Old Bluecoat School Ware, (1934), 333-7
Transactions of the East Hertfordshire Archaeological Society in Transactions of the East Hertfordshire Archaeological Society, (1932)
Transactions of the East Hertfordshire Archaeological Society in Transactions of the East Hertfordshire Archaeological Society, (1933)
Ware Society Newsletter in Ware Society Newsletter, (1983)

End of official list entry

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