Gilpin House

Details

WARE TOWN

TL3514SE HIGH STREET
829-1/9/128 (North side)
08/05/50 No.84
Gilpin House
(Formerly Listed as:
HIGH STREET
No.84)

GV II*

Formerly known as: Nos.84, 84A, 86, 88 and Blue Boot Stores
HIGH STREET.
House, now shop, with attic offices and storage areas. C15 and
C17, with C19 and C20 alterations. Timber-framed, stucco
faced, with quoins left and right on south elevation. Old
tiled roof; twin gables facing south, one gable facing east,
truncated base of red brick chimneystack, originally with 4
diagonally-set upper shafts, on centre of ridge of left hand
gable.
EXTERIOR: 2 storeys and attics, with extensive cellars. South
elevation first floor has 3 flush sash windows with glazing
bars, attic 2 flush sash windows with exposed boxes set high
in gables. East elevation has 2 flush sash windows, with
exposed boxes. Attic has 2-light C20 wooden casement window,
with glazing bars. Ground floor has mid C20, part timber
shopfronts with entrance in left hand window at south
elevation. 6 panel door in east elevation with pilaster
surround, panelled frieze and flat hood raised on console
brackets. Rear elevation faces West Street, 2 storeys,
colourwashed pebbledash, setback stuccoed gable with attics at
right. First floor central sash window in flush surround with
exposed boxes, small paned smaller window at right. Twin light
modern casements to attic above. Ground floor has modern
lean-to extension with glazed roof.
INTERIOR: contains evidence for the 2 distinct periods of
construction. The building forms part of an encroachment,
middle row, on the West Market Place. Viewed from the south,
the right hand (east) range is late C15; the left hand (west)
range is mid C17. The right hand range possibly formed a
cross-wing to a hall-house to the west, which was subsequently
rebuilt, or the 2 bay C15 range may always have been
self-contained, albeit unheated. The east range contains a
late C15 cellar, flint lined, with heavy joists supporting
ground floor above, in the rear (north) bay; floor lowered to
street level in C19 in the south bay. Ground floor opened out,
but central cross beam shows mortices for central stud
partition, and exposed close studding in east wall of south
bay. Attics indicate that C15 crown post roof structure
removed C17 when floor inserted and east gable constructed to
form garret. Collar purlin exposed in ceiling, with mortices
for bracing. Original rear gable, now enclosed as partition at
north end of attic has ogee bracing crossing close studding,
originally external, and cut through by inserted attic door.
Brick chimney, and adjacent newel staircase added C17 on north
during rebuilding. C17 range has cellars with twin central
fireplaces facing north and south, both the chamfered timber
lintels. Ground floor south room opened out C19. North room
has elaborate mid C17 plaster ceiling, with a central heavily
moulded plaster-covered beam with a `mock' guilloche design
studded with rosettes, and the recessed panels subdivided by
moulded ribs into alternating squares and circles, containing
a cartouched shield containing 2 English lions and 3 crosses,
the coat of arms of the Garth family. The first floor north
room has similar, but more elaborate plasterwork, with the
central beam running north-south, and 2 large square recessed
panels, each containing a diagonally set square, with
fleur-de-lys at each corner, with a circle within, and shields
similar to those on ground floor below, but surmounted by
raised Laurel wreaths. The chimney breast has a wreathed
shield flanked by crowned rosettes (Hertfordshire Archaeology
8, 1980-82, p181). Attics contain central chimneystack, and
C17 roof with side purlins housed in principal rafters.
HISTORICAL NOTE: local tradition asserts that the house was
built by Henry VII for his mother, Margaret Beaufort, Countess
of Richmond, who was granted the Manor of Ware for life. The
name Gilpin House was acquired in the 1880s, when Randloph
Cadecott's illustrations renewed the popularity of Cowper's
poem.
(Smith JT: Hertfordshire Houses. Selective Inventory: London:
1993-: 198-9; Perman D: Ware UD. List of buildings of special
arch or historic interest: 1993-: 48; The Victoria History of
the County of Hertford: London: 1912-: 381; Forrester H:
Timber Framed Buildings in Hertford and Ware: Hitchin: 1964-:
43-4; 1890-; East Herts Archaeological Society Transactions:
Andrews RT: Gilpin House, Ware: Hertford: 1907-1908: 272-3;
Moodey GE: East Hertfordshire Archaeological Society
Newsletter: 34, 38, 41: Hertford: 1974-1976; Hertfordshire
Archaeology: Puloy M: Decorative Plasterwork in Hertfordshire:
St Albans and Hertford: 1980-1982: 181,PL LXIII/IV/V).


Listing NGR: TL3573514354

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

412364

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), 43-4
Smith, J T, Hertfordshire Houses Selective Inventory, (1993), 198-9
Transactions of The East Hertfordshire Archaeological Society in Transactions of The East Hertfordshire Archaeological Society, Vol. 34, (1974)
Transactions of The East Hertfordshire Archaeological Society in Transactions of The East Hertfordshire Archaeological Society, Vol. 38, (1975)
Transactions of The East Hertfordshire Archaeological Society in Transactions of The East Hertfordshire Archaeological Society, Vol. 41, (1976)
Hertfordshire Archaeology in Hertfordshire Archaeology, (1980), 181
Hertfordshire Archaeology in Hertfordshire Archaeology, (1981), 181
Hertfordshire Archaeology in Hertfordshire Archaeology, (1982), 181

End of official list entry

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