Details
489/0/10014
WINCANTON
SOUTHGATE ROAD (South side)
LAWRENCE HOUSE, INCLUDING OUTBUILDING 6M TO ITS WEST
(Formerly listed as: SOUTHGATE ROAD LAWRENCE HOUSE)
26-MAR-09
II
Also Known As: LAURENCE HOUSE, SOUTHGATE ROAD
REGENCY HOUSE, SOUTHGATE ROAD
A former farmhouse built between 1833 and 1840 incorporating an earlier farm building of circa 1800, with an associated farm building of c1800 with later alterations standing to its west. The late-C20 works to the rear are not of special interest.
MATERIAL: The house is built in coursed stone rubble (now painted white), has a hipped slate roof with overhanging eaves, and one surviving brick chimney to its right. The earlier west wing (circa 1800), is also built in stone rubble, and has a pitched slate roof with a lowered gable end stack. It has a further wing added to the rear, built in stone rubble with a hipped slate roof.
PLAN: The house with the attached wings to the west form together an L-shaped plan.
EXTERIOR: The three-storey house has two large early-C20 shop windows inserted into the north and east elevations, both with decorative timber surrounds. On the north elevation the shop window is flanked to the right by the main entrance, which has a timber, round-arched architrave and a decorative fanlight set above a fully-glazed late-C20 door. At first-floor level it has two large sash windows with two smaller ones above, both with stone ashlar surrounds. The east elevation has one 6-over-6 pane sash window at first floor level above the shop window, with a full dormer to the attic.
The earlier, two-storey west wing which projects slightly forward, has two segmental brick-arched casement windows on each floor to the front elevation and a single casement to each floor on the narrow east return. The west elevation, facing the courtyard, has a large opening to the right at ground floor level (inserted or enlarged in the late-C20) with two mid- to late-C20 casement windows above, probably set in earlier openings. To the left are three blocked openings (probably for a former door and windows), with a small mid- to late-C20 casement window above at first floor level (probably re-using an earlier opening).
INTERIOR: Many pre-1840 features survive, including a tall and elegant open-well staircase with decorative panelling, brackets and wall string, wreathed and ramped handrail and stick balusters. Evidence of lath and plaster ceilings throughout. Decorative architraves (in particular those on the ground and first floors are of good quality), panelled doors, surrounds and window shutters, dado rails, cornices and tall skirting boards survive in most of the rooms, with one fire surround in the attic room. The roof (only partly visible) mainly appears to date from the C19, possibly with earlier timbers surviving. The roof to the earlier wing, only partly visible, was probably habitable, as suggested by the surviving lath and plaster walls and a small timber door in the roof partition.
SUBSIDIARY FEATURE: The outbuilding west of Lawrence House, originating from circa 1800, is built in stone rubble with extensive later repairs and alterations in brick (late-C19 and circa 1930s). It has a half-hipped slate roof with a brick ridge stack. The north elevation facing the street has two blocked window openings at ground floor level, and the two gable ends are blind. The south front, facing the courtyard, has a large opening to the left with a timber lintel. To its right is a timber door flanked to either side by horizontally glazed metal casement windows under segmental brick arches. At first-floor level are two large similarly horizontally framed metal casement windows. The roof timbers appear to be mostly intact, with some later repairs.
HISTORY
Lawrence House was probably built as a farmhouse between 1833 and 1840 by extending an earlier farm building, as suggested by an estate map of 1833 and the Wincanton Tithe Map of 1840. By 1887 the number of outbuildings on the site had considerably increased, and in 1897 Lawrence House was occupied by the farmer James Henry Havelock Lippiatt and in 1902 by the farmer Henry Collard. By 1903 further outbuildings had been added again, and opposite The Creamery had appeared, later to become the Milk Factory. Of the former outbuildings now only that to the west of the former farmhouse remains (see above).
SOURCES: Map of Bennett's estate in Wincanton, 1833
Tithe Map for Wincanton, 1840
Ordnance Survey Maps published in 1887, 1903 & 1930.
Kelly's Directory of Somerset (1897), p 483.
Kelly's Directory of Somerset (1902), p 500.
REASONS FOR DESIGNATION: Lawrence House in Wincanton (also referred to as Laurence House or Regency House) and the associated outbuilding standing to its west are included on the List at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* It is a good example of a pre-1840 farmhouse, incorporating an earlier farm building and retaining internal features.
* The shop fronts, inserted in the early-C20, are of good quality and add to the interest of the building.
* Additionally, as a former farmhouse with its surviving outbuilding, it is a positive reminder of the past agricultural nature of the area, now almost entirely industrial.
