High Street

High Street

(74) House, No. 12, of two storeys and an attic, with brick walls and a tiled roof, is of the early 18th century. The two-bay E. front has sashed windows in the upper storeys and a cornice with dentils. Part of the original staircase with turned balusters remains.

(75) Houses, two adjoining, Nos. 14–16, of three storeys with brick walls and tiled roofs, are superficially of the mid 18th century, but the interior plasterwork masks timber framework, probably of 16th-century origin. The rendered E. front is of the 19th century.

(76) House, No. 18, of two storeys with brick walls and tiled roofs, is of the early 18th century. The gabled W. elevation has a moulded brick plat-band. The roof has original collared tie-beam trusses.

(77) Houses, two adjoining, Nos. 32–4, recently demolished, were substantially mediaeval although the original structures were masked by 17th-century and 18th-century alterations. No. 34 was pulled down in 1958; No. 32 in 1976.

No. 32, of three storeys with timber-framed original walls, probably dated from 1491 (see below), but it had been extensively altered in the 18th century. The lower storey of the brick-built E. front had been obliterated; the second storey had a projecting window with three sashed lights and a domical lead roof; the upper storey had two plain sashed windows. A lead rainwater head was dated 1773. Inside, the 18th-century staircase (Plate 88) was surprisingly large for a house of this size. The E. room on the first floor had 18th-century pine panelling in two heights. The corresponding second-floor room had a panelled dado.

No. 34, also timber-framed, but of four storeys, was probably of the 16th century. The E. front had two shop windows at ground level, a bow window similar to that of No. 32 on the first floor, and two plain sashed windows in each of the two upper storeys. A cornice and parapet masked the roof. Inside, the W. room on the ground floor had panelling of c. 1700 in three heights with a frieze and cornice. The stairs to the first floor were of the late 18th century and had slender turned balusters and column-shaped newel posts. The E. room on the first floor had moulded and fielded oak panelling and a late 18th-century enriched plaster ceiling. The stairs above first-floor level were of the 16th century with square newel posts with polygonal finials, closed strings and bulbous balusters. The W. room on the second floor had reset oak panelling in five heights with carved enrichment in the top height; the chimneypiece was flanked by pilasters with strap work enrichment. The W. room on the third floor had some late 16th-century panelling. The two-bay roof had a plain collared tie-beam truss.

The two houses stood in the S.E. corner of a mediaeval tenement, Pynnok's Inn, to which many documents in the city archives relate. (fn. 1) William Pynnok, the first recorded owner, died in 1270 bequeathing his dwelling-house to his brother Richard, and an annual rent of 15s. from an adjacent house to the Vicars Choral 'to make our obit'. (fn. 2) Richard, parliamentary representative in 1295, (fn. 3) died in 1310 and bequeathed the house to his wife with reversion to his son John; the will mentions a new chamber. (fn. 4) By 133 John Pynnok had leased the N. part of the property to John and Alice le Taverner, the lessees agreeing to make good any damage done to the property by themselves or their guests; the deed states that the Town Ditch defined the N. side of the tenement. (fn. 5) The Pynnoks continued to own the property for most of the 14th century. In 1385 when another John Pynnok leased part of the Inn to William and Edith Fuystour the lease included a ruined building (42 ft. by 21 ft.) and an adjoining chamber; (fn. 6) set back from the street (the deed reserves the right to cross an adjoining plot), it is possible that the ruined building was William Pynnok's original dwelling. John Pynnok, a benefactor of the Tailors' Guild, died abroad c. 1386 and left the property to his sister Isabella Fyns. (fn. 7) In 1428–31 Pynnok's Inn and four other properties were purchased under royal licence by the mayor and commonalty, (fn. 8) the purchasers agreeing to maintain the annual payment of 15s. for William Pynnok's original obit. Thereafter the inn appears in the city chamberlain's rent rolls. (fn. 9)

The boundaries of the tenement are easily recognisable on O.S., 1880. A curved recess in the N. boundary probably marks the elbow of the Town Ditch, which flowed S. from a pool below Fisherton Mill and turned E. to pass along 'New Canal'. An indenture of 1345, (fn. 10) devising a small plot of land to a 'way to the river bank . . . . for a watercourse', has been held to date the construction of the Town Ditch, but it is more probable that it alludes to a narrow strip of ground (S) in the N.W. corner of the tenement, between the elbow of the ditch and the bank of the Avon; the ditch already occurs in the lease of 1333 mentioned above. The city let the property in several parts: an inn called the Helme in the 15th century, and at least three houses. (fn. 11) In 1455 quit rent of 3s. 7½d. was paid 'pro hospitio vocato Pynnokes Inn'. (fn. 12) From time to time efforts were made to rebuild the inn, notably in 1434 and 1484. (fn. 13) In 1491 four houses were built with shops and two upper storeys. (fn. 14) By 1618 there were five separate plots between the Town Ditch on the N. and the garden of the Angel Inn on the south. (fn. 15) The southernmost plot, No. 34 High Street, was sold in 1649 to Richard Banks; later it belonged to the Eyre family. (fn. 16) The northernmost plot was given to the Dean and Chapter, c. 1785, in exchange for land upon which to build the Guildhall (13). (fn. 17) All leases of the N. tenement include a covenant allowing access to the Town Ditch. The three middle tenements remained city property until 1876 and plans by Peniston are preserved. (fn. 18) Plan No. 4 corresponds with No. 32 High Street.

(78–9) Houses, two adjacent, Nos. 36–8, demolished c. 1958, were of three storeys with attics and had timber-framed walls and tiled roofs. They were of late 16th-century origin. In each house the two lower storeys of the E. front had been obliterated by a modern shop window; above, the jettied upper storey and gable remained visible. Inside, in the upper part of each house jowl-headed posts and chamfered beams were exposed.

(80) House, No. 40, of two storeys with an attic, has timber-framed walls and a tiled roof and is of the mid 15th century. The gabled E. front has a modern shop window in the lower storey and a 19th-century bow window above; in the second storey and jettied attic storey timber framework is exposed. The three-bay roof has cambered tie-beam trusses.

(81) House, No. 50, at the corner of Crane Street, is of three storeys with walls mainly of tile-hung timber framework and with tiled roofs. Of late 15th-century origin, it must be a rebuilding of part of the inn called La Rose or La Hotecorner which was given in 1410 to the Vicars Choral by John Gowayn of Norrington, bishop's bailiff 1399–1408. (fn. 19) The inn extended N. into the area now occupied by No. 48, a modern building. By 1649 No. 50 had been separated from the inn and was described as two tenements which once belonged to the Rose, comprising two shops, two chambers, three garrets and a cellar; the plot measured 22½ ft. by 24 ft. overall and was leased to Silvester Pope, tailor. (fn. 20) The properties are also described in a Vicars Choral terrier of 1671. (fn. 21)

The S. and E. elevations of the 15th-century house are jettied at the first and second floors, but the S. jetty of the first floor is enclosed in a modern shop window. The two parallel roofs, ridged E.–W., are now hipped, but no doubt were formerly gabled. Inside, an archbraced collar-beam truss is visible in the S. roof. Reset in a first-floor room is a mediaeval oak head-corbel (Plate 84).

(82) Row of three Houses, Nos. 52–4 High Street, now a bookshop, of two storeys with walls of timber framework and with tiled roofs, is a well-preserved 14th-century structure (Plate 60). In 1341 the 'corner tenement with shops adjoining' was leased by John of Shaftesbury, spicer, to Walter de Upton. In 1356 it passed (perhaps only briefly) into the ownership of the Hungerfords; (fn. 22) later it belonged to the Vicars Choral, remaining their property until 1815. (fn. 23) In the Parliamentary Survey of 1649 the description of the S. part of the building is lost, but the two N. houses were occupied by John Langley, watchmaker. Langley still had them in 1671 when he added the S. house to his lease. (fn. 24)

The building consists of three parallel ranges, each of two bays in the lower and of three bays in the upper storey. In one place the surviving external posts of the lower storey retain mortices for the horizontal beams of a wall panel. Before underbuilding, the first floor was jettied on N. and E., the jetties being supported on plain brackets; two of these remain and others are attested by mortices. On the S., the first floor extends over a ground-floor passage which formerly followed the side of the S. range. A fireplace with a 16th-century brick chimneybreast occupies the width of the passage in the W. bay; whether it blocks an original passage or replaces an earlier chimneybreast is unknown. Other fireplaces are modern. On the first floor the three ranges are separated by original partitions; a plaster panel in the middle range has 16th-century painted decoration.

The roofs have continuous tie-beams spanning the ranges, with scarfed joints in the middle of the middle range; above, each range has three scissor-trusses with upper principals. The gables have plain framing, probably for windows. An attic dormer window on the N. side of the N. range (not shown on drawing) is a 16th-century addition. There is no evidence of an original attic floor.

A 19th-century photograph shows the building when the timber framework was hung with slates. (fn. 25)

(83) House, No. 56, of three storeys with tile-hung timber-framed walls and tiled roofs, is of the 15th century. The upper part of the E. front, originally of two gabled bays, is masked by a 19th-century tiled facade with sashed windows and a plain parapet. In the lower storey the S.E. corner post (p) retains the moulded jamb of an original doorway and a curved and chamfered bracket supporting the jettied first floor. Inside, the layout of the lower storey has been obliterated in the formation of a shop, but the former plan is recorded in a survey of 1849, (fn. 26) here reproduced. A doorway (d) in the S. part of the original W. wall has a chamfered elliptical head and continuous jambs. To W., a kitchen of c. 1800 (still with fittings of that date) was formerly separated from the 15th-century house by a small court, now roofed over. The stairs of c. 1800 encroach on the adjoining house (84). There are two parallel roofs, ridged E.–W., each with collared tie-beam trusses and butt purlins; the tie-beams are continuous across the two ranges.

(84) House, No. 58, of three storeys with tile-hung timber-framed walls and tiled roofs, is of the 15th century. The E. front, originally jettied at the first and second floors, is now concealed by an early 19th-century tiled facade in the plane of the third storey and continuous with the facade of No. 56 (83). Inside, enough remains of the original E. front to show that the second storey had cinquefoil cusped bracing in the lower panels, and windows (perhaps originally with trefoil-headed lights) in the upper panels. Mortices remain for brackets to the jettied second floor. The roof has collared tie-beam trusses with lower angle-braces and clasped purlins. For a plan of 1849, see monument (83).

(85) House, No. 64, of three storeys, has walls of timber framework hung with mathematical tiles and a. tiled roof. Of the late 18th century, it is likely to be the 'neat dwelling house' advertised in Salisbury Journal, 14 Jan. and 21 Apr., 1788. In the E. front the lower storey is rendered and rusticated. The doorway has panelled pilasters and an open pediment with cartonpierre enrichment. The 19th-century shop window probably replaces sashed windows. Inside, the principal rooms have late 18th-century dados, chimney pieces and moulded cornices.

Monuments (86)–(92)

In 1265 Nicholas de St. Quintin, the first Provost of St. Edmund's College, endowed his chantry in Salisbury Cathedral with rents from property in High Street (Minstrestrete) extending from the Close wall on the S. to two tenements in New Street (Sar. Chart., 341). There was a gateway between the two New Street tenements. The length of the property from E. to W. was 9 perches and 10 ft. (158½ ft.). It was valuable land and by 1535 its rents constituted nearly a third of the canons' total receipts from city properties (Benson & Hatcher, 807). The endowment explains the fact that in 1649 monuments (86)–(91) were all in the possession of the Dean and Chapter, paying rent to the canons' common fund (Parl. Svy.). Monument (92) was also Chapter property, but its rent went to the fabric fund, indicating a separate endowment.

(86) Shops and Offices, formerly an Inn, Nos. 49–51, are of two storeys with attics and have brick and ashlar walls and tiled roofs. In style the W. front is of the second half of the 17th century, but earlier walls are found internally and at the rear of the building. In a lease of 1609 the tenement is described as 'a capital messuage and garden adjoining, sometyme an Inne called the Horseshoe, afterwards the White Horse'; it was let to John Lowe. (fn. 27) In 1649 when it was let to James Underhill, vintner, the following rooms were listed: hall, parlour, kitchen, solar, 2 butteries, coalhouse, taphouse, 2 drinking rooms, stable, woodhouse, a fair dining room, 4 fair chambers, 3 chambers for servants, a shop and a garden of 10 perches; there was also a little tenement adjoining, 'next unto the close wall', containing a shop with a chamber over it. (fn. 28) In 1682, as 'the sign of the Sunn', the building was led to Robert Westbury, vintner. (fn. 29) The rebuilding of the facade must date from about this time although it is not mentioned in the leases.

The W. front, originally symmetrical and of five bays with the middle and end bays set slightly in front of the intermediate bays, has ashlar piers between the modern shop windows and doorways, an ashlar plat-band at the first-floor windowsills and a moulded and coved plaster cornice at the eaves. A brick-fronted dormer window over the central bay, with flanking pilasters and a flat roof, was formerly pedimented; centrally behind is a chimney-stack with panelled sides. The central opening of the second storey retains an original wooden casement of two lights, but other openings have modern fittings or are blocked. The bay beyond the S. end of the W. front, adjoining the Close gateway, obviously corresponds with the 'little tenement' of the Parliamentary Survey. The corresponding bay beyond the N. end of the facade is occupied by a carriage through-way leading to a garden on the E.; above the through-way are two projecting storeys with large sashed windows. A 17th-century brick chimney-stack with shafted angles and a moulded cornice stands against the party-wall between this bay and the adjoining building (88). Inside, several rooms retain stout moulded beams of late 16th or early 17th-century date. A large ground-floor fireplace has a moulded, cambered and shouldered oak bressumer above brick jambs. A room in the E. wing has a heavily moulded early 17th-century beam, and an adjacent room has walls lined with panelling of c. 1700 with bolection mouldings.

(87) House, No. 47, of three storeys and a cellar, has brick walls and tiled roofs; it was built towards the end of the 17th century perhaps by Dr. John Ballard who, with his heirs, appears to have held the ground lease from 1698 to 1733. (fn. 30) Previously the site was occupied by stables let to William Collyer. (fn. 31) In 1736 the lease was renewed to Walter Long. (fn. 32)

The S. front is approximately symmetrical and of six bays with two moulded brick plat-bands and brick quoins. The eaves have a late 18th-century wooden soffit with coupled brackets. The upper storeys have regularly spaced plain sashed windows. In the lower storey the central doorway has Tuscan columns supporting a bracketed cornice and pediment; on the W. is an original service doorway; the windows and the projecting bay are modern.

Inside, the hall has a late 17th-century screen of three arches with fluted Ionic pilasters (Plate 97); the contemporary oak stairs have spiral balusters and coupled newel posts. The stairs W. of the kitchen have turned balusters in the lower flights and serpentine splats above. The dining room has plain 18th-century panelling in two heights, with a moulded dado rail. The N.E. room is lined with reset early 17th-century small-panelled oak wainscot with a guilloche frieze. The first-floor drawing room (Plate 96) has 18th-century decoration.

(88–90) Houses, range of three, Nos. 41–5, originally of two but now of three storeys with attics and cellars, have walls partly of brick and partly of tile-hung timber framework, and tiled roofs. In 1649 the site was registered as comprising four tenements although only three tenants are named; (fn. 33) the present building, however, dates from later in the 17th century. In the 18th century the building was heightened from two to three storeys and refronted in a manner to suggest, deceptively, a single house with a symmetrical five-bay facade (Frontispiece). Since then the fenestration has been altered and the effect of uniformity has gone. Former roof trusses embedded in partitions on the second floor show that the third storey replaces an attic. Late in the 18th or early in the 19th century a new attic storey was added above the third storey and a 17th-century chimney-stack was heightened. Inside, No. 45 (88) has an original close-string dog-legged staircase with twisted balusters. Nos. 43 and 41 (89–90) have 18th-century staircases.

(91) House, No. 39, of two storeys with an attic, has tile-hung walls and a tiled roof and appears to be of the 18th century.

(92) Houses, two adjacent, Nos. 37 High Street and 79 New Street, now combined as a shop, are each three-storeyed with cellars and attics and have walls of stout timber-frame construction, with some flint, brick and rubble; the roofs are tiled. Both houses are of the early 16th century, but differing floor levels suggest that they were not built at the same time. By 1620 they were combined as an inn, the Holy Lamb; later (1742–c. 1760) it was the Sun and Lamb, a name still remembered in 1807. (fn. 34) In 1649, when Charles Snook was tenant, the rooms were listed. (fn. 35) It is customary for bishops of Salisbury to use No. 37 as a robing-place before their enthronement, hence the modern name Mitre House. (fn. 36)

In No. 37 the first floor is jettied N. and W. (the jetties are now under-built) and the second floor is jettied on the N. only. In the third storey there are three original N. windows, each of two lights with a moulded oak frame. In No. 79 the first and second floors are jettied N. at higher levels than in No. 37. The three-bay roof of No. 37, ridged E.-W., has four tie-beam trusses, each with two collars and clasped purlins. No. 79 has an 18th-century roof.

In 1297 this corner tenement belonged to Robert, son of Nicholas de St. Quintin (see note on p. 70), but it was occupied by William and Agatha Florentyn. (fn. 37) It was still called Florentyne's Corner in 1363. (fn. 38) In 1455, when it was called Old Florentyne Corner, the clerk of the Cathedral fabric fund paid 20 d. quit rent. (fn. 39)