Penniless Porch
PENNILESS PORCH, MARKET PLACE
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- I
- List Entry Number:
- 1383024
- Date first listed:
- 12-Nov-1953
- List Entry Name:
- Penniless Porch
- Statutory Address:
- PENNILESS PORCH, MARKET PLACE
Location
Location of this list entry and nearby places that are also listed. Use our map search to find more listed places.
Use of this mapping is subject to terms and conditions .
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale.
What is the National Heritage List for England?
The National Heritage List for England is a unique register of our country's most significant historic buildings and sites. The places on the list are protected by law and most are not open to the public.
The list includes:
 |
Buildings |
 |
Scheduled monuments |
 |
Parks and gardens |
 |
Battlefields |
 |
Shipwrecks |
Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2001-04-23
- Reference:
- IOE01/03211/20
- Rights:
- © John Boothroyd. Source: Historic England Archive
Local Heritage Hub
Unlock and explore hidden histories, aerial photography, and listed buildings and places for every county, district, city and major town across England.
Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- I
- List Entry Number:
- 1383024
- Date first listed:
- 12-Nov-1953
- List Entry Name:
- Penniless Porch
- Statutory Address 1:
- PENNILESS PORCH, MARKET PLACE
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- PENNILESS PORCH, MARKET PLACE
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- Somerset (Unitary Authority)
- Parish:
- Wells
- National Grid Reference:
- ST 55059 45811
Details
WELLS
ST5445 MARKET PLACE
662-1/7/156 (East side)
12/11/53 Penniless Porch
GV I
Gateway to Cathedral Green. c1450, built by Bishop Bekynton.
Doulting ashlar stone, with lead roof. The upper floors
communicate with and are used by the occupants of No.16 (qv).
EXTERIOR: 3 storeys, single bay, exposed on west and north
sides only. Plinth, moulded strings between floors and under
battlemented parapet, octagonal south-west corner turret. West
face has 4-centre arch with rosettes set in mouldings, carved
spandrels with letter TB (for Thomas Bekynton) interwoven with
foliage; first floor has two windows set slightly proud, a
double-and a single-light, with cinquefoil cusping to ogee
tracery under flat heads, and between them a carved angel
figure bearing a coat of arms, further shields in cusped
recesses under windows; second floor panelled, with two
2-light windows with blank underpanels, with worn statue
niches between them and to either side.
The north face has a plainer 4-centre arch with arched label,
a corbelled panelled feature in the northwest corner at first
floor level and a double-ogee arched statue recess to the
left, otherwise the two upper floors rough-rendered and plain,
with string and battlemented parapet, angled buttress to
north-east corner, and rendered lean-to building set in front
of the main east building.
In the S wall are two doorways, one plain 4-centred, the other
a late C18 pedimented elaborate lierne vault.
INTERIOR: there is a single room at each upper level. The
first floor has C17 panelling with pilasters, including
panelling to seats in window embrasures, and a bolection-mould
fireplace to the E. In the SE corner, behind a C17 door in a
4-centred arch is a recess, possibly a former garderobe. The
spiral stair in the SW corner has stone treads to the lower
flight, but wood treads to the upper flight. The upper room
has a 2-bay arch-braced roof with wind-bracing. On the S side
are very large moulded brackets or corbels, and a small cusped
lancet.
HISTORICAL NOTE: the porch is said to be so named as it was
the spot where beggars normally sought alms; a stone bench
runs along the E wall.
(The Buildings of England: Pevsner N: North Somerset and
Bristol: London: 1958-: 311).
Listing NGR: ST5505945811
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 483442
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: North Somerset and Bristol, (1958), 311
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 13-Jun-2026 at 01:41:49.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.