Boundary Walls to Numbers 1-13
BOUNDARY WALLS TO NUMBERS 1-13, VICARS' CLOSE
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- I
- List Entry Number:
- 1383198
- Date first listed:
- 12-Nov-1953
- List Entry Name:
- Boundary Walls to Numbers 1-13
- Statutory Address:
- BOUNDARY WALLS TO NUMBERS 1-13, VICARS' CLOSE
Location
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Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2007-08-01
- Reference:
- IOE01/16712/10
- Rights:
- © Mr John H. Sparkes. Source: Historic England Archive
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- I
- List Entry Number:
- 1383198
- Date first listed:
- 12-Nov-1953
- Date of most recent amendment:
- 31-May-2000
- List Entry Name:
- Boundary Walls to Numbers 1-13
- Statutory Address 1:
- BOUNDARY WALLS TO NUMBERS 1-13, VICARS' CLOSE
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:
- BOUNDARY WALLS TO NUMBERS 1-13, VICARS' CLOSE
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 55137 46009
Details
WELLS
ST5445 VICARS' CLOSE
662-1/7/333 (East side)
12/11/53 Boundary walls to Nos 1-13
(Consecutive)
(Formerly Listed as:
VICAR'S CLOSE
Nos.1-13 AND 14-27 (Consecutive))
GV I
Walls enclosing gardens of row of houses. Mid C15, with some
C19 modifications, restored 1976-83. Local roughly squared
stone rubble with Doulting ashlar dressings.
Front boundary walls on average 4m from front of house, with
returns along side boundaries and with openings opposite
doorways to houses, average 1m high, with roll and pitched
face copings.
At the south end there is a quarter- circle curve into the
Vicars Hall (qv); variations are:
No.4 has lower walls surmounted by railings having arrowhead
tops with urn finials to standards, and matching gate.
No.5 has what may be an original gateway, where the wall is
swept up in the centre to a 4-centred arched gateway having
mock-crenellated top, framing a timber gate with wrought-iron
hinges: on the rear, over the arch, a carved raised text in
Gothic letters, quoting from Psalm.
No.7 has gateways at the extreme ends with ashlar piers having
moulded pyramidal caps, and No.12 has similar piers to the
gateway.
To No.13 the front wall is about 1.8m high, with two stone
arches as No.5, the left framing stone steps alongside the
Vicars Chapel (qv) and the right is the house gateway, with
timber gate.
These walls break up the original quadrangular form of Vicars'
Close, having been erected in response to demands from the
Vicars for gardens. They enclose the approx 140m long street,
which narrows and rises slightly towards the N, and is
completely paved with setts.
Probably each house had a raised gateway when the walls were
first constructed.
(Colchester LS: Wells Cathedral: A History: Shepton Mallet:
1982-: 212-225; Buildings of England: Pevsner N: North
Somerset and Bristol: London: 1958-: 319).
Listing NGR: ST5514345994
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 483616
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: North Somerset and Bristol, (1958), 319
Colchester, LS, Wells Cathedral: A History, (1982), 212-225
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 08-Jun-2026 at 00:47:19.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
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