67 and 69 Westgate (formerly Bank House)

Summary

Large townhouse built around 1790 for Captain Francis Ingram, founding partner of Wakefield’s first purpose-built bank, Ingram & Kennet, established 1785; the banking hall originally being next door at 65 Westgate.

Reasons for Designation

The former Bank House, number 67 and 69 Westgate, for Captain Ingram of Ingram & Kennet Bank, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* as one of Wakefield’s grandest late-C18 townhouses, its broad frontage including an unusual rusticated arcade of arches to the ground floor;
* surviving interior evidence of the original high status of the accommodation, such as that shown by the top-lit open-well staircase to the centre and the separate service stairs, contributes to the special interest.

Historic interest:

* for its association with Wakefield’s first purpose-built bank and with Captain Ingram, its principal founding partner;
* as an illustration that money made by Ingram through privateering and the Liverpool-based trade in enslaved people was invested in Wakefield;
* along with other listed C18 and C19 buildings on upper Westgate, it showcases the evolution of buildings from domestic to commercial uses in towns and cities at this time.

Group value:

* with the neighbouring 65 Westgate, which originally incorporated the banking premises of Ingram & Kennet Bank.

History

Westgate, one of medieval Wakefield’s four principal streets, became a popular residential district for the mercantile classes in the C17 and C18, with large townhouses built on the street frontage of long burgage plots that had been originally laid out in the medieval period. Numbers 67 and 69 Westgate occupy an amalgamation of two burgage plots, the building’s origins also being bound up with the neighbouring building to the east, 65 Westgate. These two buildings were built by Captain Francis Ingram (1739-1815) as grand townhouses, 65 Westgate also incorporating accommodation for Wakefield’s first purpose-built bank that was established by him in partnership with Benjamin Kennet in 1785.

Much of Captain Ingram’s wealth was made through his involvement in the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Ingram was one of the most prolific traders in enslaved people operating out of Liverpool in the late C18. Between 1772 and 1788 he was involved with 105 voyages transporting some 34,000 enslaved people from Africa mainly to Jamaica, of whom nearly 15% died during the long Atlantic crossing, being treated as cargo in overcrowded, unsanitary conditions. He was also agent and part owner of the ‘Enterprise’, a successful privateering ship which captured six French vessels in 1779-1780. Ingram had taken possession of the property in Wakefield in 1785 following the deaths of his mother (Sarah in 1780) and sister (Elizabeth in 1785). His business partner, Benjamin Kennet had recently come into an inheritance himself, but had previously worked as a clerk for London bankers Fuller & Co.

It is thought 67 and 69 Westgate, originally known as Bank House, was built around 1790, shortly after 65 Westgate which actually housed the accommodation for the bank in addition to domestic accommodation, this being lived in by Kennet in 1795. Bank House, Ingram’s residence, was one of the grandest in Wakefield, described in the late 1790s as having dining, drawing and breakfast rooms as well as a library, stabling for eight horses and two carriages, all looked after by five servants. To the rear, there were also walled gardens and grounds extending as far as the cattle market although there were also tenanted buildings along Bank Street including the Star Inn.

The Ingram and Kennet Bank funded much of Wakefield’s expanding business community and became treasurers for the Wakefield Enclosure Commissioners. Enclosure saw previously common land divided and redistributed, leading to changes in rural society which mostly affected labourers and small landowners. The bank also opened branches in Halifax and Barnsley but crashed into insolvency in 1807. In 1812, to help pay creditors, the movable contents of Ingram’s house, (furniture, linen, crockery and the contents of the wine cellar) were all advertised for sale, listed in detail in the Leeds Mercury 18 July 1812. By 1814 the bank had finally paid its creditors and had been sold (the business and properties) to Leatham, Trew and Co. who had established a banking business on Wood Street in Wakefield in 1809.

The 1823 plan of Wakefield by John Walker highlights ‘Wakefield Bank’ occupying 69 Westgate, 65 Westgate (which housed the original banking premises) not being marked as a bank. Records suggest that both properties were used by the banking firm of Wentworth, Chaloner and Rishworth which ran into financial difficulties in the late 1820s, the business passing to the Wakefield Banking Company established in 1832. Rishworth, who had been a banking clerk for Kennet and Ingram, is thought to have lived in at least part of 67 and 69 Westgate, the rear yard adjacent to 65 Westgate being labelled Rishworth’s Yard in 1823. By 1837 Edward Sykes, an attorney, was living and conducting business from Bank House. In 1864 the property was advertised for sale by auction, the main house as one lot, with land and buildings to the rear offered as two separate lots, Bank House subsequently used mainly as offices for a series of professionals including solicitors and architects. In 2003 the ground floor was converted into a public house, subsequently becoming a nightclub.

Details

Large townhouse built about 1790 for Captain Francis Ingram founding partner of Wakefield’s first purpose-built bank Ingram and Kennet.

MATERIALS: red brick in Flemish bond with stone dressings to the front elevation, plainer red brickwork to the side and rear. Welsh slate roofs.

PLAN: the ground floor has been extensively altered, the current main entrance being the original carriage entrance to Rishworth’s Yard depicted in 1823. The main stair (which is to the centre of the building, rising around a square open well) and the service stair (to the centre of the Bank Street elevation) remain identifiable, but partly altered. Some rooms on the first floor have also been amalgamated.

EXTERIOR: Westgate elevation (north): this is of five bay and three storeys over a basement. The elevation has a stone basement, windowsill bands to the ground and first floors and a moulded modillion cornice with a blocking course above concealing the low-pitched hipped roof. The ground floor has a bold arcade of round arches in rusticated stonework, that to the far left (east) being a former carriage entrance, now forming the main entrance to the building. All of the arches, including the former carriage entrance, are infilled with Flemish-bonded brickwork of a lighter colour than the rest of the elevation, this being deeply set back within the arches, each with an opening formed with rubbed brick flat arches, the left-most being a six-panel door with a rectangular overlight, the others fitted with large, six-over-six pane hornless sash windows. There are similar sash windows to the first and second floors, the upper windows being a pane shorter. The central window to the first floor has an apron formed with a recess containing urn-shaped balusters, a moulded architrave and a console-bracketed pediment. The window above has an architrave.

Bank Street elevation (west): this is of five bays, the flanking bays being blind, both having four-flued chimney stacks rising from the eaves. Windows have segmentally arched brick lintels and stone sills. The central bay has two tall stair windows, the upper one being round arched, the lower one being enlarged downwards to form a doorway with a tall overlight. To the left (north) there is a former doorway which has been reduced to a window, with evidence of a further blocked doorway to the northern-most bay.
Roof: not visible from the ground are further chimney stacks and the large glazed lantern which lights the main staircase to the centre of the building.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

445994

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Websites
Local History Research, Linda Smith, Wakefield Historical Society, 2022, accessed 06 November 2023 from https://www.wakefieldhistoricalsociety.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/67-69-Westgate-Bank-House.pdf

Other
Floor plans submitted with a 2012 Listed Building Consent planning application (12/01639/LBC)

End of official list entry

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