7A, 9A, 9, 11, 13 and 13A Fore Street, 1-4 King Charles Mews and water pump

Summary

This pair of former town houses which have a similar layout were built in about 1580. They were both refurbished and extended in the 17th century, including the addition of an expensively decorated cross wing (the Court Room) to the rear of the west house. There were further periods of alteration, extension and sub-division from the 18th century onwards, resulting in a complex of inter-related buildings. This is a rare survival of two high status Elizabethan houses that have a wealth of features and decoration that is indicative of their former quality and grandeur.

Reasons for Designation

7A, 9, 9A, 11, 13 and 13A Fore Street and 1-4 King Charles Mews, a pair of courtyard-plan houses of around 1580 with later additions and alterations, are listed at Grade I for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* for the significant proportion of surviving fabric and evidence of the plan form from the principal phases of development in the late C16 and C17;

* the high-quality decoration exhibited in the distinctive and fine plasterwork and in the remains of an early paint scheme present in 9 Fore Street are indicative of the former quality and grandeur of these houses;

* the early C17 court room with plasterwork depicting themes of justice and wisdom is a highly significant survival.

Historic interest:

* they are of exceptional interest for the degree of survival and for providing evidence about the lives of Chard’s wealthiest inhabitants from the late C16 onwards;

* the proven association with King Charles I who stayed here in 1644.

History

A pair of high-status houses were built in about 1580 on a medieval burgage plot on Fore Street, prominently sited opposite the marketplace. They had similar layouts: an L-shaped plan with a long main range end onto Fore Street and a wing at right angles, also facing the street, and a rear courtyard. Several sources record that both houses were owned by John Cogan, a clothier and merchant who died in 1592. A deed for the adjacent George Hotel records that wool merchant Philobert Cogan was the owner in 1602, and by the mid-C17 it was John Barcroft, the Borough Constable. It seems he lived in the west house (7A, 9A and 9 Fore Street) and the other (11, 13 and 13A Fore Street) was tenanted. In about 1632 a cross wing (named Manor Court House in the Victorian period; and now (2025) the Courtroom) was built in the courtyard of the west house; its first-floor room expensively finished with plasterwork depicting emblems and images relating to justice and faith. The plasterwork is very distinctive, but stylistically similar to examples found at several other Somerset houses and they were all probably produced by the same workshop (Penoyre and Penoyre, 1994). The room may have been used for Quarter Sessions and Borough Courts as well as a great hall. A document from 1660 records that King Charles I stayed at Barcroft’s house in Chard in 1644.

During the mid to late C17 both houses were refurbished. Entrance porches were added, the west house was remodelled and upgraded, and a second floor was inserted in the front wing (7A and 9A Fore Street). The east house was also extended with a cross wing (13A Fore Street) in the courtyard. By the early C19 the whole complex was known as Waterloo House, and both houses had been subdivided since four households are recorded, and by 1851 there were nine households. Late C18 and C19 alterations include a new façade to the west front wing; substantial rebuilding of the east front and the addition of an east range to the rear; and the addition of shopfronts. A range (1-4 King Charles Mews) behind the west house was also much rebuilt. It was converted to dwellings in 2009. The 1903 Ordnance Survey map depicts a small group of probable dwellings behind the east house; most since demolished. In the mid-C20 several small extensions were added to the rear elevation of the west house front wing and a range was built on the west side of its courtyard, possibly replacing an earlier structure. The Courtroom was restored in the 1950s and its missing plasterwork was restored with fibrous plaster.

A programme of documentary research and analysis of the historic fabric was undertaken by Keystone Historic Building Consultants in 2014-2015 which produced a report and a room-by-room gazetteer (see Sources). The Details below does not therefore describe every feature present but characterises the various elements.

Details

A former pair of houses; sub-divided and occupied by commercial premises and domestic accommodation. Built around 1580, possibly incorporating earlier fabric, with phases of updating, alteration and extension from the C17 onwards.

MATERIALS : constructed of Ham stone ashlar, coursed and squared chert, and Whitestaunton limestone rubble; part rendered. Some rebuilding and later additions in brick. Slate and Roman tile roofs with ashlar copings and brick stacks. The porches have lead roofs.

PLAN : an accretional plan comprising two L-shaped houses, each with a main range (9 and 11 Fore Street respectively) end onto Fore Street and a front wing (7a and 9A Fore Street, and 13 Fore Street) at right angles, and C17 porches. The courtyard of the former WEST HOUSE has a mid-C17 cross wing (Courtroom) of around 1632 and a mid-C20 west range. To the north-east is a range (1-4 King Charles Mews) of late C16/early C17 origins. The former EAST HOUSE has a similar courtyard arrangement, with a mid/late C17 cross wing (13A Fore Street) to the north and a late C18/early C19 east range (part of 13 Fore Street), with late C19/early C20 additions beyond.

EXTERIOR : most windows in the front elevation have square heads, hollow-chamfered mullions and Tudor-arched lights, except those to the right-hand end which are timber. To the left (7A and 9A Fore Street) is an early C21 shopfront, a late C19 bay window under a brattished cornice on the first floor, and a three-light attic window. The three-storey porch has a C17 Tudor-arched doorway with a metal gate, corbelling over the entrance, repaired first- and second-floor windows, sill bands and dripmoulds, and obelisk finials to the triple-gabled parapet. Inside the lobby is a blocked window with baluster-shaped mullions, and a late C16 inner doorway with a studded plank door. The gabled bay of 9 Fore Street has a late C19 shopfront with round-headed lights and decorative cast-iron colonnettes, a first-floor bay window with a moulded sill that continues as a stringcourse, a three-light attic window, and a fleur de lys finial. 11 Fore Street has a 1930s shopfront with corbelled entablature and repaired or replaced first- and second-floor windows. Between the bays is an C18 rainwater hopper. The two-storey porch has a C17 doorway with a metal gate, a corbelled first floor with windows up to five lights, moulded cornice and triple-gabled parapet. The late C16 inner doorway is missing its door. 13 Fore Street has an early C21 shop front, and simulated lintels and vermiculated keys to the windows.

To the rear elevation of 7A and 9A Fore Street has a late C16 doorway and a projecting stair turret with an early C19 window with lozenge pattern glazing bars and coloured glass, and a C17 attic window. Either side of the turret are mid-C20 extensions. The range to the west is mid-C20. The courtyard elevation of 9 Fore Street has late C16 ground- and first-floor windows of up to five lights and two gabled attic dormers; all much repaired. A small single light marks the position of a former stair. A C19 doorway has been inserted into a ground-floor window and there is a wide C17 doorway with plank door and C20 porch. To the left, rising from first floor to eaves, is a shallow projection for a late C16 stair which has a blocked two-light window and a moulded cornice.

The south elevation of the Courtroom has an off-centre mid-C17 doorway; the door is missing, with a late C20 window and part of an earlier stone window to the left and a probable C20 window to the right. The large mullioned and transomed first-floor window has a king mullion and two tiers of tall, Tudor-arched lights; the repairs and glazing are mid-C20. The rear elevation has an identical first-floor window, beneath which is a decayed doorway with a repaired C17 plank door and C17 mullioned windows; one partially blocked. A secondary doorway was once a window. The west gable wall is plastered and blind. 1-4 King Charles Mews to the north-east has a narrower footprint and lower roofline at its north end. It has early C21 doors and windows, many in historic openings, including former taking-in doors. Several vertical joints are evident.

To the rear of 13 Fore Street is a plain brick opening to the passage, and the upper floors have sash windows. The courtyard elevation of 11 Fore Street has a late C16 stair turret with small single lights; late C16 and C17 stone mullioned windows of up to five lights, some with C19 leaded lights; a tripartite sash and a fixed five-light window, both late C19 and set partly into original openings; and an C18 timber attic window. A wide C17 doorway has late C20 doors and a late C18 porch with Tuscan posts set in stone blocks. The north gable wall has a late C19/early C20 bay window, repaired late C16 stone windows and a stair turret to the upper floors. An attached late C19/early C20 former dwelling (part of 11 Fore Street) extends north and has a plank door and windows of a mix of styles and dates. Its rear elevation faces onto a narrow, open lightwell. On its north side is another possible dwelling that partly oversails a passageway and may have C18 origins.

13A Fore Street (also called Waterloo Court) abuts the rear of 11 Fore Street and incorporates a cross passage. The south front has a weathered, C17 stone doorway with a hoodmould extending along part of 11 Fore Street, late C19 doorway and windows, and a blocked C17 doorway visible internally. The first-floor stone windows have square heads and steel-framed lights; the sill and hoodmould are continuous. The north end of the passage has an oak Tudor-arched door frame and a cast-iron post set in a stone block. To the left is a sash window, and the rear elevation is blind. There is an attached late C19 two-storey addition of brick and stone which has a plank door, sash window, casement and tall stack to the west elevation. The late C18/early C19 east courtyard range has a plank door with ventilation holes across the top, an inserted second doorway, casement windows and a tall, blocked opening. On the first floor are three sash windows of different styles and dates. There is a C19 single-storey link addition between this range and 13A Fore Street to the north.

INTERIOR : both houses have the same basic plan with some minor differences, such as in the arrangement of stairs and fireplaces. The ground floor of each main range had a high-status room to the front, probably for dining, a large hall beyond, a small unheated service room and a rear kitchen. The layout of four rooms with oak-framed cross walls was largely repeated on the upper floors. Doorways on each floor provided access to the front wing which may have originally contained a shop with a chamber above. There has been some reconfiguration of the interiors both historically and more recently.

FORMER WEST HOUSE : the cross passage retains an oak stud and panel screen and a late C16 doorway with a C17 door. A late C16 or C17 newel stair at the back of the present shop (7A Fore Street) leads to the upper floors (9A Fore Street). Historic features include C17 fielded panelling, some possibly secondary, Ham stone fire surrounds, and a C17 timber balustrade or grille at the top of the stairs. One first-floor room has an ornamental, single rib plaster ceiling that is late C16 in style but may be a C19 copy. A roof truss with a jointed cruck post and principal rafter is partly exposed on the second floor.

9 Fore Street retains features from all phases of its development. The existing staircases are late C16, C19 and C20, with evidence for at least two more. Doors are mostly panelled and of various dates, principally C17 and C18, with some re-used in their present locations. Several rooms have high-quality plaster ceilings of thin rib geometrical patterns, with lozenges and squares to the ground-floor front room and circles and hexagons to the front two rooms on the first floor, also leaf motifs and lobed or fruit bosses. The plasterwork appears to be late C16, except for the first-floor front room ceiling which may be much restored or a C19 copy. The ground-floor front room has a refurbished fireplace and a probable warming cupboard. A peak-headed doorway to the left no longer opens (2025). The former hall has been subdivided and has a boarded over C17 fireplace, C19 cornice, and a doorway with a re-used, C17 ochre-stained door painted with interlaced arabesques which opens onto a stair within the east wall. There is evidence for a second hall stair. The north room has ceiling beams with deep chamfers and stepped stops, a C17 oak panelled cupboard, and a C17 fireplace. A re-used C18 door with a spring latch opens onto a passage that previously led to King Charles Mews. On the first floor, the front room has a part-exposed (2025) late C16 stone fireplace and a mid-C19 marble fireplace. The adjacent room has been subdivided and has an identical fireplace (partly exposed, 2025), a late C16 plaster ceiling and a C17 plaster frieze of foliate motifs, dolphins and possible cherub heads. Largely hidden by wallpaper is an early paint scheme of a brownish pink background overlaid by black and green foliate scrollwork. There is a late C16 panelled window seat, C18 cupboard and the remains of an early C19 fire surround in the next room. The end room has chamfered ceiling beams, a re-used C17 door to an understairs cupboard and a mid-C19 fire surround. In the north-west corner, concealed in a cupboard, is a recess for a stair. The landing beyond has a C19 stair and a blocked doorway to the Courtroom. The roof structure of side-pegged jointed crucks and three rows of trenched purlins is visible in the attic rooms.

The Courtroom has a mid-C17 oak-screened cross passage with Tudor-arched doorways which was flanked by a former service room or rooms and a kitchen. The kitchen has a C17 fireplace, altered to accommodate a C19 cupboard with a C17 door, and chamfered ceiling beams. The staircase is C19. The first floor, accessed from a mid-C20 staircase, has repaired and rearranged C17 timber wall panelling and a barrel-vaulted ceiling. The plasterwork includes flat double-rib panels, leaf and flower motifs, fanciful creatures and celestial bodies. The central pendant features cherubs and later lion heads. The frieze has a foliated meander and stylised dogs’ heads, and tympanum to either end feature human figures, beasts, birds, strapwork cartouches relating to justice, wisdom and deliverance, and biblical scenes depicting Daniel in the Lions’ Den, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the Fiery Furnace, and the Judgement of Solomon. The restored west tympanum descends to form an overmantel to the stone fireplace. The four roof trusses, three rows of trenched purlins and a diagonal ridge date to circa 1632; there are also reused timbers of 1528-1553.

1-4 King Charles Mews to the north-east is understood to retain some late C16 fabric, including an oak screen, possibly reset or resited, and a deep-chamfered ceiling beam. The roof is mostly late C18/early C19 but includes an earlier jointed cruck truss.

FORMER EAST HOUSE: there are extant staircases of the late C16, late C18/early C19 and late C19, and most joinery dates to the late C18 and C19; some modern fire doors are present. There are decorative plaster ceilings in 11 Fore Steet, of geometric panels, leaf motifs and bosses in two first-floor rooms. A plaster ceiling in the ground-floor front room was described (Somerset Vernacular Architecture Group) in 1979 as partially surviving and identical to that in the ground-floor front room of 9 Fore Street.

The present shop in 11 Fore Street has C21 shop fittings and a suspended ceiling, and the rooms beyond have early C19 ceiling roses, one incomplete, and there is a moulded cornice in the end room. On the first floor the front room has a part-exposed, late C16 Ham stone fireplace alongside a mid-C20 one and ceiling plasterwork that may be much restored or a C19 copy and does not extend into the bay. The adjacent room has been subdivided and retains a late C16 plaster ceiling, late C16/early C17 panelling to a window seat and the reveals, and ornamental plaster medallions above. The next room has a C19 fireplace, and the north room has late C16 ceiling beams and a blocked doorway that once opened onto 13A Fore Street. Several attic rooms have plain timber fire surrounds. The roof structure consists of side-pegged jointed crucks and three rows of trenched purlins.

13 Fore Street has been extensively refurbished, but retains a dogleg stair, several doors and a timber chimneypiece, all C19. There is little visible evidence of earlier features, with most fireplaces covered over or missing. 13A Fore Street on the north side of the courtyard has been updated internally, but is understood (Keystone Historic Buildings Consultants, 2015) to retain repaired ceiling beams, its original roof structure, and some late-C19 doors and a fireplace. The former dwellings at the rear of 11 Fore Street retain simple timber fireplaces and a staircase of the late C19/early C20.

SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: to the rear of 11 Fore Street is a plain, cast-iron water pump that appears to be early C20.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

374086

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Manor Court House in Somerset Archaeological and Natural History and Society, Vol. 28, (1882), 22-27
Penoyre, J, Penoyre, J, Decorative Plasterwork in the Houses of Somerset 1500-1700. A Regional Survey, (1994)

Websites
An archaeological assessment of Chard (2003). English Heritage Extensive Urban Survey, accessed 7 January 2025 from https://www.somersetheritage.org.uk/downloads/eus/Somerset_EUS_Chard.pdf

Other
Somerset Vernacular Architecture Group, 1979, No.9A, No.9 and No.11 Fore Street, Chard SW Heritage Centre, DD/V/CHB/1/4
A Arnold, R E Howard, & Dr C D Litton, 2004, Tree-ring Analysis of Timbers from Manor Court House, Fore Street, Chard, English Heritage
Keystone Historic Buildings Consultants, January 2015, 7A-113 Fore Street, Chard Report for South Somerset District Council

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