Boundary Walls to Numbers 14-27
BOUNDARY WALLS TO NUMBERS 14-27, 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:
- 1383200
- Date first listed:
- 12-Nov-1953
- List Entry Name:
- Boundary Walls to Numbers 14-27
- Statutory Address:
- BOUNDARY WALLS TO NUMBERS 14-27, VICARS' CLOSE
Location
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Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2007-08-01
- Reference:
- IOE01/16712/11
- 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:
- 1383200
- Date first listed:
- 12-Nov-1953
- Date of most recent amendment:
- 31-May-2000
- List Entry Name:
- Boundary Walls to Numbers 14-27
- Statutory Address 1:
- BOUNDARY WALLS TO NUMBERS 14-27, 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 14-27, 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 55125 46010
Details
WELLS
ST5445 VICARS' CLOSE
662-1/7/335 (West side)
12/11/53 Boundary walls to Nos 14-27
(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 houses, with returns along
side boundaries, and with openings opposite doorways to
houses, average 1m high, with roll-top and pitched face
copings.
At the north end is a return link eastward to the Vicars
Chapel (qv). Variations are; No.15 has ashlar piers with
moulded pyramidal caps to gateway, No.16 has low ashlar walls
surmounted by wrought-iron railings having simple collared
points and urn finials to cast bracketed standards, with pair
of gates to match and piers at each end, No.17 has plain stone
coping, No.22 has a higher boundary wall and what may be an
original gateway with 4-centred gate arch having mock
crenellated top, and a timber boarded gate, and No.27 has a
sweep up to a similar stone gateway abutting part of the
Vicars Hall (qv).
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 end, and is
completely paved with setts. Probably each house had a raised
gateway when the walls were first constructed.
(Colchester L S: Wells Cathedral: a History: Shepton Mallet:
1982-: 212 - 225; Buildings of England: Pevsner N: North
Somerset and Bristol: London: 1958-: 319).
Listing NGR: ST5513245992
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 483618
- 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 07-Jun-2026 at 15:26:15.
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