The Bank

Summary

The Bank is a seventeenth century house with gable-entry plan, an inglenook fireplace, and a stone newel staircase. It has been extended to the north with a nineteenth century lean-to and to the west with a two-storey twenty-first century extension.

Reasons for Designation

The Bank, Westrip is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:
* as a good example of a C17 house of modest proportions that are representative of the local area;
* for the survival of its legible two-cell plan form and unusual gable entry arrangement;
* for the survival of its historic interior features, including stone newel staircase, fireplaces and bread oven.

Historic interest:
* for its representation of a rural domestic dwelling of the C17 in Westrip;
* for its association with the Nailsworth Brewery Company.

History

The Bank sits in a large garden plot just north of the crossroads at the northern edge of Westrip. It retains a legible two-cell plan form with gable-entry and stone newel staircase and, on stylistic grounds, is dated to the C17, when the village was a small hamlet consisting of fewer than ten houses.

The house is shown on the 1830 One Inch Old Series OS map, but the size and shape is not clear. The 1840s Tithe Map shows the house as a rectangular main range with a small lean-to to the north that does not extend the full length of the building. The Tithe Apportionment shows that The Bank was owned by John Mosley in the mid-C19, but the house was tenanted by Thomas Pearson. By the late C19 it was owned by The Nailsworth Brewery Company Limited before being sold in 1898 to George Pearce. The Nailsworth Brewery Company also owned the Carpenters Arms in Westrip, providing evidence that during this period it was probably used for staff accommodation.

The original plan form of the house remains clearly legible although some alterations have been undertaken. Internally an additional staircase has been inserted into the north-western corner of the main range, the stone mullion window in the original west gable was lowered to create a doorway and a winder stair to attic level has been inserted. These changes are likely to have taken place in the C19. Undated internal plans that probably date from the early C20, show a corner fireplace in the western room at ground floor and the lean-to divided into two independent spaces, each accessed separately from doors in the gable ends. The fireplace has since been removed and it is thought the stack at this end of the building was removed in the mid-C20. Externally a small garage was added to the east in 1964. A photograph from around the same date shows the building was rendered, with a small, pitched roof timber entrance porch against the west gable and window at attic level. The porch has since been removed and the attic window blocked. In 1996 dormer windows were added. In 2006 the house and lean-to were extended to the west, introducing a pitched roof, two-storey addition.

Details

The Bank is a C17 gable-entry house with a lean-to extension to the north and C21 two-storey extension to the west.

MATERIALS: the house and lean-to are of Cotswold stone. The house has a concrete tiled roof, the lean-to a pantile roof. The garage is constructed of concrete block with concrete roof.

PLAN: rectangular single-depth, two cell plan with lean-to to the north and a two-storey C21 extension to the west.

EXTERIOR: the main range of The Bank is of two bays over two storeys with attic. Windows are generally evenly spaced, three-light stone mullion windows; those at ground floor have stopped hood moulds. The roof is steeply pitched and has a gable stack to the east with moulded cap, gable detailing and a stone apron just above tile level.

To the west is a two-storey extension of one bay with a modern pitched roof, stone mullion windows (some reused) and an entrance door to the south. To the north is a rubble stone lean-to that runs the whole length of the elevation with French doors to the west and two small casement windows towards the eastern end. To the east and offset from the main range, is a small garage with pitched roof and timber doors facing south.

INTERIOR: The Bank was originally laid out as a two-room plan, the lean-to has since been added and a modern extension to the west has introduced an additional room at ground and first floor.

Many C17 features survive including the large fireplace and bread oven with timber bressummer, stone newel staircase at ground floor and large stone fireplace on the first. Several large ceiling beams with stepped stops survive throughout. The historic plan form remains legible, including the gable entry with small lobby adjoining the fireplace.

C19 alterations include the insertion of tongue and groove partitions to create a stair hall and the straight stairs in the north-western corner. The attic storey has been separated into two rooms. Each is independently accessed by the two winder staircases, one a continuation of the stone stair to the east and one inserted to the west. The roof structure is of three bays with two tie and collar trusses with trenched and staggered purlins and curved braces. One has carpentry marks and the other graffiti inscribed ‘ELI + DANIEL’.

The lean-to is accessed by a crude opening through the rear wall of the main range and is sub-divided to form kitchen and ancillary areas. The garage is single space with double doors to the south.

Sources

Other
Tithe Map for the Parish of Randwick, Gloucestershire, surveyed 1841, The National Archives, IR 29/13/163.
Old Series OS 1830 https://maps.nls.uk/view/257576765

End of official list entry

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