Plumptre With Front Boundary Wall
PLUMPTRE WITH FRONT BOUNDARY WALL, 21, THE LIBERTY
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1383175
- Date first listed:
- 12-Nov-1953
- List Entry Name:
- Plumptre With Front Boundary Wall
- Statutory Address:
- PLUMPTRE WITH FRONT BOUNDARY WALL, 21, THE LIBERTY
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:
- 2003-02-19
- Reference:
- IOE01/03282/09
- 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:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1383175
- Date first listed:
- 12-Nov-1953
- List Entry Name:
- Plumptre With Front Boundary Wall
- Statutory Address 1:
- PLUMPTRE WITH FRONT BOUNDARY WALL, 21, THE LIBERTY
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:
- PLUMPTRE WITH FRONT BOUNDARY WALL, 21, THE LIBERTY
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 55205 46083
Details
WELLS
ST5446 THE LIBERTY
662-1/6/310 (East side)
12/11/53 No.21
Plumptre, with front boundary wall
GV II
Canonical house, now part of Wells Cathedral School. Probably
1737, for Dr Francis White, porch and detailing to front of
early C19. Rendered with ashlar dressings, Welsh slate roof
between coped gables, ashlar chimney stacks.
PLAN: symmetrical double-depth plan with central hall through
to staircase at rear.
EXTERIOR: 2 storeys with attics, 5 bays. Plinth, rusticated
quoins, eaves cornice with secret gutter. Twelve-pane sashes
in moulded architraves, with flat hoods to ground-floor
windows. Entrance in bay 3, with a flat-roofed open stone
porch with paired neo-classical pilasters carrying an
entablature with cornice, on 2 steps, over a 6-panelled door
in architrave. Hipped slated-roofed dormers with 9-pane
sashes. The rear has, at centre, a large 30-pane arched sash,
with thick early glazing bars.
INTERIOR: a splendid open-well staircase has 3 balusters to
each tread, the central one twisted, scrolled carved
tread-ends, and painted dado panelling. The large arched
window has panelled reveals. The ground floor left room has a
niche with elliptical head, and multi-facetted cornice; the
room to the right has tall fielded panels above a dado, and a
wide elliptical arched opening with keystone. In a back room
is one Gothick window, and the kitchen has a large fitted
painted dresser. The upper floors not inspected.
SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: extending from the south-west corner of
house to front, then northwards along front boundary, a stone
boundary wall in random rubble with ashlar pitched copings,
averaging approx 1.1m high, having gateway opposite entrance
door with plain square pilasters, adding to setting of house
and the important streetscape.
HISTORICAL NOTE: there are various references to C15 tenancies
on the site, and to a new house of c1470. On 4 January 1737
the Dean and Chapter considered '... a plan modell (sic) or
draught of a design for new building or repairing the
canonical house now ... in possession of Dr. White...', and
although there is no direct evidence that this was carried
out, the detail of the current fabric would tend to confirm
that as likely. After a brief period as Dean Edward's
residence from 1963, the house was leased to the Cathedral
School in 1966.
(Bailey S: Canonical Houses of Wells: Gloucester: 1982-: 76;
The Buildings of England: Pevsner N: North Somerset and
Bristol: London: 1958-: 327).
Listing NGR: ST5520546083
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 483593
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: North Somerset and Bristol, (1958), 327
Bailey, S, Canonical Houses of Wells, (1982), 76
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 09-Jun-2026 at 11:46:23.
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.