44 (first-floor flying freehold only), 46A, 50 and 50A Holyrood Street

Summary

House in a row, sub-divided into two commercial units and separate first-floor accommodation. C17, with later alterations and additions. Attached ranges to the rear altered and modernised in late C20/early C21 and now separate dwellings (46B and 48 Holyrood Street).

Reasons for Designation

44 (first-floor flying freehold only), 46A, 50 and 50A Holyrood Street, a former C17 house with later alterations and additions, including its sub-division into two commercial units and separate first-floor accommodation, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:
* as a C17 building which, although sub-divided, demonstrates the vernacular traditions of the area in much of its built form and adds to our understanding of domestic architecture of this date;
* despite cumulative alterations and internal reconfiguration, the original plan form, as a cross-passage house, can be discerned and historic features such as some interior joinery, fireplace and part of the original roof structure survive;
* the rear outshut and legible historic alterations reflect the evolution of the building.

Group value:
* with a number of listed buildings on both sides of Holyrood Street which is situated within the Chard Conservation Area.

History

The core of the historic town of Chard is represented by a settlement dating back to at least the Saxon period located probably in the vicinity of the Church of St Mary in an area now known as Old Town. A planned medieval borough to the north, along the High Street - Fore Street axis, was established by a charter from the Bishop of Bath and Wells, whose estate Chard formed part of. The establishment of the Borough involved either the realignment or the re-use of existing routes in order to lay out the new market areas and burgage plots, and Holyrood Street served as an important north-south (actually north-west to south-east) route between the early settlement and the new borough. By this time the woollen cloth trade dominated the local economy and Chard was an important local hub. The town was badly affected by fire in 1577, with many of the medieval structures entirely or partially destroyed. Recovery was rapid, however, with many new buildings, not all necessarily as a result of the fire, having been constructed by the early C17.

Holyrood Street is considered to have been predominantly residential in character until the mid-C19 and commercial uses have since occupied many ground floors. There are references to newly-built tenements in 1602, but it is probable that many of these replaced previous buildings (Gathercole, see Sources). 46 and 50 (now part of 44, 46A, 50 and 50A) Holyrood Street forms part of a row of houses that was not formally planned and which evolved from the late medieval period onwards. The building dates from the C17, as evinced from surviving historic joinery. It has been subject to alterations and extensions over the intervening centuries, including the addition of a rear outshut, probably in the C18, and the raising of the roof on at least one occasion. Both 46 and 50 Holyrood Street have been sub-divided, and they each have a ground-floor commercial premises and separate residential accommodation to the upper floor. In the early C21 the first floor of 46 was incorporated into 44 Holyrood Street, a separate property (38-44 Holyrood Street is separately listed at Grade II).

Details

House in a row, sub-divided into two commercial units and separate first-floor accommodation. C17, with later alterations and additions. Attached ranges to the rear, altered and modernised in late C20/early C21 are now separate dwellings (46B and 48 Holyrood Street) and are excluded from the listing.

MATERIALS
Constructed of stone and brick with roughcast render. The roof is covered with artificial slates to the front (east) and triple Roman clay tiles and felted sheeting to the rear, with crested ridge to southern half. There are brick ridge stacks to the right-of-centre and the right (north) gable end, and stepped stone coping to the left gable end.

PLAN
The building has a two-room cross-passage plan with later rear wings that have been much altered and converted to two further dwellings. It was single depth when built and has a later, probable C18, outshut to the rear and a lean-to rear porch.

EXTERIOR
There are two storeys and the principal (east) elevation is a four-window range. All the windows are modern, being mostly of timber; those to the upper floor of the left-hand half of the building (50A) have uPVC frames. Number 46 has an inserted shop front and there is a fixed-light shallow-bowed shop window and multi-paned glazed door to 50. To the right of centre is a six-panelled door onto the through passage. The rear elevation is masked by several additions of various dates, including a single-storey lean-to porch which is evident on the mid-C19 Tithe Map, a late-C20 two-storey range which is a separate dwelling (46B and excluded from this listing) and a late-C20 flat-roofed extension. The windows comprise late-C20 timber casements and an early-C21 uPVC window, and rear entrance to the through-passage has a square-headed pegged doorcase, though the door is a modern replacement.

INTERIOR
The through-passage has a stone flagged floor. On the right side of the passage is a doorway to 46 Holyrood Street which has a late-C19/early-C20 door and architrave, and on the left side is a late-C19 plank door to the rear outshut of 50 and a modern door accessing the first-floor flat (50A). The passage also has two ceiling beams with deep chamfers; one with stepped stops to its south end. The beams continue into the ground floor of 46A and extend the full width of the room, though here they have been partly encased. The front, ground-floor room of 50 has a fireplace with a chamfered timber lintel backing onto the passage. There are chamfered axial ceiling beams, and the beam to the left of the fireplace appears to incorporate the arched head of a former doorway. At first-floor level the right-hand half of the building underwent refurbishment in the early C21 and all joinery, except the exposed lower sections of historic roof trusses and a short length of purlin, are of this date. The left-hand half (50A) has mid- to late-C20 doors, architrave and skirtings. The doorway to the bathroom in the rear outshut retains a pegged doorcase, of probable C18 date, and recesses to either side of the chimney breast may indicate the position of former historic openings through to the north half of the building. The roof structure has evidence of several phases of replacement, renewal, and strengthening, some of which are historic, the original C17 principal rafters which include a closed truss of stakes and withies at the south end of the building remain.

Pursuant to s1 (5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (‘the Act’) it is declared that the attached 48 and 46B Holyrood Street to the rear and the late-C20 flat-roofed rear extension of 50 Holyrood Street are not of special architectural or historic interest and are excluded from the listing.
This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 21/02/2019

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

374170

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Websites
South Somerset District Council, 2012, Chard Conservation Area Appraisal, accessed 11 December 2018 from https://www.southsomerset.gov.uk/media/422780/chard_caa.pdf
Gathercole, C, 2002, English Heritage Extensive Urban Survey, An Archaeological Assessment of Chard, accessed 11 December 2018 from https://www.somersetheritage.org.uk/downloads/eus/Somerset_EUS_Chard.pdf

Other
J P Gainford Associates Ltd, June 2018, Building Survey Inspection Report and Photo Schedule of 50 Holyrood Street, Chard, Somerset, TA20 2AJ

End of official list entry

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