118, 120 AND 122, WEST STREET

Details

736-1/8/209 WEST STREET 16-DEC-74 (North side) 118, 120 AND 122

GV II A row of three town houses, with origins in the late-C16 and later C18 and C19 extensions and alterations. MATERIALS: The houses are built in a variety of materials, including timber frames with wattle and daub panels, stone rubble with cob, and brick. The exteriors are rendered and painted, with red tile roofs and brick chimney stacks. PLAN: All three properties have irregular evolved plans, with principal rooms arranged along the road side and a series of irregular extensions to the rear. EXTERIOR: No. 118 has a near symmetrical façade. There is a central entrance with a late-C19 bell porch and C20 door, flanked by C20 three light timber casement windows. There are three similar windows on the first floor, a stack to the west gable, and a plain tiled roof. The west gable is blank. No. 120 has its entrance to the right with a late-C19 flat roofed, open porch, and late-C18 to C19 door. Above the door is a small two-light horned sash window. To the left of the door is a two-storey canted bay with horned sash windows. There is a brick stack to the west gable and a pantiled roof. The rear elevation has four 12-light sash windows, those on the ground floor have slightly arched heads, and a lead rainwater head with heraldic badges. There are single storey gabled extensions to either side, housing the service ranges. The south or roadside elevation of No. 122 is asymmetrical with two roof heights, with the higher hipped roof to the left, a central chimney stack and pantiled roof. On the ground floor there is a 12-light sash window to the right and a four-light horned sash to the left. On the first floor there is a nine-light, three over two, sash window to the right and a four-light horned sash to the left. To the far left, are the remains of a large carriage entrance with piers of moulded brick with stone capping, later partially in-filled brick and rubble stone. The west, or garden, elevation of No. 122 is the principal elevation. Set at right angles to the road, the garden elevation is asymmetrical. The entrance is towards the right with a C19 door with square over light and side glazing. To its right is a single storey canted bay window with a plain tile roof. Above the door is an arched sash window with stained glass margin glazing. To the right, above the canted bay, is a four light sash window. To the left of the door is blank at both ground and first floor. There is a C20 part glazed lean-to conservatory. Further to the left is a late-C19 brick extension, containing the service range, with a number of irregularly set timber casement windows with brick heads and sills. INTERIOR: The interiors of the properties preserve period features including interior joinery, such as skirtings, door cases, timber panel doors, floorboards, and alcove cupboards and a range of largely C19 fireplaces. Notable features in No. 118 include chamfered cross beams and evidence of box framing in the partition walls; a deeply moulded, high quality, C16 cross beam in the front left room; early-C19 raised and fielded timber dado panelling. No. 120 has C18 moulded plasterwork, representing fanlight tracery above the entrance; in the principal chamber are arched niches either side of the chimney breast. The interior of No. 122 appears to have been largely renovated in the C19, and includes a staircase with turned newel posts topped by ball finials and turned balusters. At both ground and first floor level, there are arched niches to either side of the fireplaces in the rooms, immediately adjoining No. 120. The roof structure was accessible only in Nos.118 and 120. The earliest roof truss is encased in the east gable and comprises principals joined at the apex and the remains of a single trenched curving each side. Two further trusses in No. 118 are inscribed with carpenters' marks and are tie beam trusses with a pair of trenched purlins each side, and collars which are jointed to the principals with half lapped dovetails. In No. 120 the trusses have tie beams and threaded purlins each side. The notched apex is reinforced with a nailed yoke. Exterior inspection suggests that the C18 hipped roof structure survives intact at the west end of No. 122. HISTORY: A property is recorded on the site of No. 118 from at least the late-C16. For over 200 years it was owned by the Mayor and Alderman of the town and tenanted by a series of reasonably well-to-do tenants. Known as Claremont House, by the late C19 it was in disrepair and was subsequently occupied by a series of merchants. Deeds also exist for a property on the site of No. 122 since at least 1712. A survey of Nos. 118 and 120 undertaken by the Somerset Vernacular Building Research Group, suggest that No. 118 was built towards the end of the C16 and extended in the late-C17. No. 120 was built in the C18 and the two were amalgamated in mid-C19. No. 122 is also of several phases built in the C18 and extended later when the garden façade was created. In the C19 it was updated with the addition of the canted bay to the west elevation and the service range extension to the north. The 1888 Ordnance Survey records the three properties in their present form.

SOURCES: John Dallimore, Survey Claremont,118 West Street & 120 West Street Bridgewater, Somerset Vernacular Building Research Group (2004).

Yvonne Thomas, Transcriptions and Summaries of Documents Relating to 118 West Street, Held in the Taunton Public Record Office.

Anon, Title Deeds Relating to 122 West Street from c1712 onwards. In the possession of the house owners.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION Nos 118, 120 and 122 West Street are designated at Grade II, for the following principal reasons;

* The group have early origins and provide good evidence for the development of town houses on this plot of land over a period of more than 400 years

* The survival of some notable interior features, including early joinery and substantial roof structures

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

441325

Legacy System:

LBS

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