Marchmont House

Summary

A house thought to date from the mid-C18, later converted to shops.

History

Lincoln High Street is part of the major Roman road, Ermine Street, linking London to York. It has served as the principal route into the city from the south since the first century when a legionary fortress was established on what is now ‘Uphill’ Lincoln (the vicinity of the cathedral and castle). The fortress was later transformed into a civilian settlement, taking the name Colonia Lindum, from which its modern name is derived. The Roman town gradually expanded south along Ermine Street beyond the River Witham. This development pattern was largely re-established after the Vikings resettled the city during the C9. By the time of the Norman Conquest, both sides of Ermine Street appear to have been developed for some distance south of the river, but as late as the C18, development to the east and west of the High Street was mostly limited to the areas of the castle and cathedral in ‘Uphill’ Lincoln and along the riverfront in ‘Downhill’ Lincoln.

The land south of the River Witham witnessed considerable industrial and commercial growth during the late C18 and C19. The land to the east and west of the High Street was transformed into a network of workshops, factories and yards, a trend reinforced by the arrival of the Midland Railway in 1846, followed by the Great Northern Railway in 1848, which transformed a large swathe of the area into a complex of railway buildings, storehouses and sidings. The High Street witnessed gradual redevelopment throughout this period, creating the largely C19 streetscape seen today, although a significant number of pre-industrial buildings have survived, often hidden behind later facades.

363-364 High Street, also known as Marchmont House, was constructed as a substantial town house during the mid-C18, at a time when the suburb of Wigford was attracting investment from wealthy mercantile families. Little is known about its early history. It appears to have been extended to the rear (east) sometime during the early to mid-C19.

The principal building had reached its current size by 1887, at which time the house retained a rear garden. By 1926, the ground floor had been converted into a shop, and the building had been subdivided into two properties by 1930 – the two events may have coincided. Between the 1930s and 1960s, a single-storey outbuilding had been constructed over the rear yard of the building, while the shopfronts were replaced in the later C20.

Details

A house thought to date from the mid-C18, later converted to shops.

MATERIALS: the building is constructed of red-brown brick with stone dressings, with a timber doorcase and a roof covering of slate. There are late C20, timber, glazed and tiled shopfronts.

PLAN: the building is rectangular on plan; it stands on the east side of High Street, with its main entrance facing west.

EXTERIOR: the building is of two storeys across five equal bays which face onto High Street. The roof is pitched, with the ridgeline parallel to High Street, and there are ridge chimney stacks on either gable end wall. Its principal elevation is symmetrically arranged, although the ground floor has been substantially altered during the late C20. In the centre of the ground floor is a moulded timber doorcase with a pediment supported on console brackets, accessed via two curved stone steps. The door within is of the mid- to late C20. To either side are late C20 shopfronts, the southern shopfront continuing onto the south elevation. On the first floor are five timber six-over-six sashes under gauged brickwork heads with stone or stucco cills. Cutting across the window heads is an eaves cornice, possibly of timber. At either end of the principal elevation, continuing onto the north and south elevations, are brickwork quoins rising up to a moulded stone kneeler.

The north and south flank walls are blank, aside from a brick plat band running partially across the south elevation at first-floor ceiling height.

To the rear (west) is a full-width extension of two low storeys under a catslide roof. Two tall brick chimney stacks rise through the catslide, one on the south gable wall and one on the party wall between Numbers 363 and 364. There are three two-over-two timber sashes at first-floor level alongside a small, two-pane casement. Adjoining the main building to the rear is a single-storey, brick outbuilding of the mid-C20.

Listing NGR: SK9737270674

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

486039

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Pevsner, N, Cherry, B, O'Brien, C, The Buildings of England: London 5 East, (2005), 437-433

Other
Padley, J S, Map of Lincoln (1842), accessed 8 February 2021 at [http://www.heritageconnectlincoln.com/character-area/high-street/104/maps-and-photos?tab=map]
OS 1:500 Town Plan of Lincoln(surveyed 1888, accessed 22 January 2021at [https://www.old-maps.co.uk/#/Map/497563/371042/13/100257]
OS 25” Lincolnshire LXX.7(Canwick; Lincoln) (revised 1904-05, published 1907), accessed 22 January 2021 at [https://maps.nls.uk/view/114649050]
OS 25” Lincolnshire LXX.7 (Canwick; Lincoln) (revised 1930, published 1932), accessed 22 January 2021 at [https://maps.nls.uk/view/114649053]
OS 1:1250 Map of Lincoln(surveyed 1967), accessed 22 January 2021 at [https://www.old-maps.co.uk/#/Map/497563/371042/13/101329]
Aerial view of St Mark’s Railway Station and environs, Lincoln (1926), accessed 22 January 2021 at [https://britainfromabove.org.uk/en/image/EPW016192]

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