Ware, Urban and Rural

138. WARE, Urban and Rural.

(O.S. 6 in. ^(a)xxix. N.E. ^(b)xxix. S.E. ^(c)xxx. N.W. ^(d)xxx. S.W.)

Ecclesiastical

^a(1). Parish Church of St. Mary, stands in the middle of the town. The walls are of flint, with clunch dressings; the roofs are covered with lead. Part of a 13th-century window jamb, recently discovered, proves that the Chancel is of that date, and the church then probably consisted of the present chancel and Nave and perhaps the North and South Transepts, making the plan cruciform. The West Tower was added c. 1330, and possibly also the Aisles; the South Chapel was added late in the 14th century; the nave arcades were re-built, the clearstorey was raised, and the S. porch was probably added c. 1410; the North-East Vestry was built at about the same time, and later in the same century the space between the vestry and north transept was filled in by a chapel; this space is now used as an Organ-Chamber, and the present Vestry is modern. The church has been considerably restored at different times during the 19th century, and most of the external stonework is modern, as well as parts of the arcades, etc., inside.

The carved font, of late 14th-century date, is of unusually fine workmanship, and well preserved; the stone traceried archway in the S. wall of the chancel is also of great interest.

Architectural Description—The Chancel (40½ ft. by 23 ft.) has a modern E. window of five lights with tracery: in the N. wall a 15th-century doorway opens into the vestry, and next to it is a late 15th-century archway of coarse detail, which opens into the organ-chamber. In the S. wall there is a modern window, and a large archway, divided into two bays by stone tracery springing from a Purbeck marble pillar, was inserted in the 14th century, when the S. chapel was added, and probably caused the destruction of an early 13th-century win dow, of which part of the moulded E. jamb is now exposed E. of the archway. The chancel arch was re-built and widened early in the 15th century. The 15th-century clearstorey has three windows on each side, much restored. The South Chapel (25 ft. by 15½ ft.) has an E. window of five lights with tracery, and two S. windows of two lights, all modern. The Nave (78 ft. by 22. ft.) has N. and S. arcades of c. 1410; they are of five bays, and the two easternmost, which open into the transepts, are of larger span than the others; the pillars are moulded, and have moulded bases and capitals, and the four-centred arches of two orders have labels with carved head-stops. Flanking the chancel arch are stair-turrets leading to the former rood-loft and the roof; the N.E. turret is still in use, and retains two doorways; the doorway of the rood-loft is blocked, but can be seen inside the turret; the S.E. turret is not used, and the lowest of the three doorways was blocked during a recent restoration of the church; both turrets rise above the roof. The 15th-century clearstorey has, on each side, four windows, of which only the inner jambs and rear arches are original. The North Transept (22 ft. by 23 ft.) has a modern cemented archway in the E. wall, opening into the organ-chamber; the large five-light window in the N. wall has been entirely restored, except the inner jambs and rear arch, which are wavemoulded, and probably of the 13th century; the archway in the W. wall, opening into the N. aisle, springs from the first pillar of the N. arcade, but is probably of the 14th century; the clearstorey is modern. The South Transept (22 ft. by 23 ft.) has a late 14th-century archway in the E. wall, opening into the S. chapel, and an archway of the 15th century in the opposite wall, opening into the S. aisle; the S. window, of five lights, is modern, except the double-ogee moulded inner jambs and rear arch, which are probably of the 15th century; the clearstorey is modern. The North and South Aisles (13 ft. wide) each have three side windows and a W. window, all restored; the N. doorway is modern, but the S. doorway is of the 14th century, slightly repaired, and there is a 14th-century string course inside below the windows. The West Tower (15 ft. square) is of five stages, with square angle buttresses, an embattled parapet and a small leaded spire; the tower arch is of the 14th century, with chamfered jambs and moulded arch; over the W. doorway is a two-light window; in the fourth stage is a clock, and the bell-chamber has four windows of two lights. The South Porch has modern side windows and entrance archway. The Roof of the chancel is modern; the other roofs are of the 15th century, but have been restored; the traceried trusses of the roof of the nave are carried on stone corbels, probably modern, carved with half-figures of the twelve Apostles; heraldic shields cover the intersections of the main timbers. The S. porch also has a 15th-century roof.

Fittings—Brasses and Indents: on E. wall of N. transept, of Elene, daughter of John Coke, 1454, with inscription commemorating also her two husbands, William Bramble and Richard Warbulton, and her son, William Bramble: on floor of N. transept, of a lady, c. 1420, without inscription: in S. transept, of William Pyrry and his two wives; below each wife, five sons and five daughters; with inscription dated 147... (unfinished): indents of civilian and his wife, c. 1400, under a canopy: indent of a cross, 14th-century; said to be from 15th-century altar tomb, formerly in the N. transept. Communion Rail: in the S. chapel, of c. 1640, brought from Benington Church. Communion Table: in the S. chapel, 17th-century: in the vestry, square oak table, with one carved rail, apparently made up from a 17th-century communion table. Door: in the doorway from chancel to vestry, original, oak, now painted; it had three heavy oak stock locks, one still in position and one in the vestry cupboard. Font: elaborately carved, of c. 1380; octagonal bowl, with panelled sides, containing figures in high relief representing the Annunciation (in two panels), St. Margaret and the dragon, St. Christopher and the Christ Child, St. George and the dragon, St. Katherine, St. James, and St. John the Baptist; the moulded panels have crocketted labels; at the angles, half-figures of angels (four with musical instruments and four with emblems of the Passion), behind them small crocketted pinnacles; stem, panelled with quatrefoils; base, moulded, and enriched with floral ornament. Monuments: on E. wall of S. transept, large, marble, to Sir Richard Fanshawe, Baronet, Privy Councillor, Ambassador to Spain in the reign of Charles II., 1666: in the S. chapel, to Anne, wife of Sir Richard Fanshawe, 1680: Panelling: in the S. chapel, carved, late 17th-century. Piscinae: in the chancel, with moulded jambs and pointed arch under a square head, the E. jamb much decayed, 15th-century: in the S. chapel, with cinque-foiled head, late 14th-century, partly restored: in the S. transept, 14th-century, jambs badly perished Plate: includes silver cup of 1618. Pulpit. with lozenge-shaped raised panels, late 17th-century. Recesses: two, in N. wall of N. transept, 15th-century; one, about 3 ft. 6 in. wide and 3 ft. above the floor, possibly formerly over an altar for group of sculpture, and removed to present position; cinque-foiled head sub-cusped with leaf cusp-points; shafted jambs with foliated capitals; W. jamb much perished; label with carved crockets and finial: the other recess, on the floor level, 6 ft. 3 in. wide, probably for monument, with double-ogee moulded jambs and pointed segmental arch; E. jamb decayed. Sedile: in S. chapel near piscina, with cinque-foiled head, late 14th-century. Screen: across W. end of S. chapel, oak, with some 15th-century tracery, otherwise modern.

Condition—Substantially good; the stonework of some of the fittings is decayed.

Secular

Homestead Moats

^c(2). At New Hall, fragments.

^d(3). At Priorswood Cottages.

^b(4). The Priory, about 100 yards S. of the church, is a dwelling house of two storeys and an attic, largely constructed out of the remains of a Franciscan Friary. The walls are of plastered rubble with stone dressings; post-Suppression additions have been made in brick and plastered timber; the roofs are tiled. The earliest detail now visible is of late 15th-century date.

The original plan had the Church on the N. and a Cloister garth, probably about 100 ft. square, on the S. All that now remains is the greater part of the Southern Range, less than half the Western Range, and the Great Hall (see Illustration). These together form a right-angled Z, with the hall projecting W. of the W. range. On the S. of the S. range there is a small projecting wing of two storeys, now used as a smoking room and bedrooms, which may have been connected with the frater pulpit. The cloisters are about 8 ft. wide, and in their S.W. angle a small modern porch has been built, which, with the ends of the two cloisters, forms the present entrance hall. The S. Range now forms the drawing room, most of the back wall of the cloister having been removed. On the first floor are bedrooms, formed out of the frater which was partly over the cloister. On the W. of this range is a modern staircase, and the kitchens, etc., are in the S.W. corner of the building, probably their original position. The small part remaining of the W. range has the dining room on the ground floor, with bedrooms over it. The hall wing had an undercroft, originally divided into at least two rooms, and now into six rooms and a corridor. Above this was the hall, about 48 ft. by 22 ft., in four bays with an open timber roof; it is now divided into a number of rooms and is ceiled at the tie-beam level to form an attic. The S. elevation of the S. range, with its small projecting wing, is modern in appearance; only one small window in the smoking room remains of the old detail. On the N. are six of the cloister windows, all of three cinque-foiled lights with hollow moulded jambs and obtuse four-centred main heads, much restored and covered with plaster; some of them are blocked. The first floor, above the cloister, has 18th and 19th-century sash windows. Two cloister windows of the W. range remain, one, in the dining room, is almost entirely restored. The two end windows of both cloisters are now without tracery and are merely arches between the porch and entrance hall. The rest of the W. range is of 18th and 19th-century detail, except the blocked W. window of the kitchen; it is of two cinque-foiled lights under a square head and has an external label now visible in the pantry, which is a modern addition; the original windows of the hall wing are of similar detail; two remain on the S., one on each floor, and on the first floor there are three on the N.; a fourth window on this side is on the ground floor, but is placed so high that the head cuts into the upper floor and suggests that it was formerly a staircase window. Below this, on the W., is a small quatrefoil opening set in an internal splay with a four-centred rear arch. All these windows are much restored and covered with plaster. Modern windows have been inserted on the N. in imitation of the old windows. Both N. and S. elevations of the hall wing were originally divided into four bays by thin offset ashlar buttresses of slight projection. Of these, three remain on the S. and one on the N.

Internally the house has been much altered and repaired. The plain beams of the ceiling in the smoking room are probably original. In the corner of the cloisters, on the S.W., is a 15th-century doorway with a pointed hollow chamfered head. This end of the S. cloister is spanned by a three-centred arch of two chamfered orders on grotesque moulded corbels: the arch springs from the end of the external wall of the W. cloister, and is apparently an addition. At the N.E. corner of the hall, near the supposed staircase window, is a small niche with a pointed chamfered head about 4½ ft. above the floor. In the middle cross wall of the undercroft is a pointed chamfered doorway, now blocked, with its rear arch on the E.; a moulded arch, carried across the corridor where it pierces this wall, is perhaps old, but is much plastered. Of the three roof trusses only the king-post of one is visible; it is octagonal, with a moulded capital and base, and plain strutting. Most of the roof is probably old, but is covered with plaster, and the tie-beams are hidden in the floor.

Condition—Good; much altered, repaired and restored.

^a(5). House, N. of the church, known as the Old Rectory, was built early in the 17th century, of plastered timber and brick. The plan is L-shaped, but the original arrangement of the room is obscured by alterations made in the 18th and 19th centuries. A room on the first floor is lined with early 17th-century panelling, and has an overmantel with three baluster Ionic columns and an enriched entablature.

Condition—Good; much altered and repaired.

High Street

^b(6). House (No. 65), on the S. side of the street, now a shop and dwelling-house, is probably of mediæval origin, but the detail is mainly of the 18th and 19th centuries. A large archway, which opens from the street into a courtyard, has a moulded and depressed wood arch, of late 15th-century date, on the side facing the court. On the E. side of the courtyard is a long narrow wing running S. from the gateway into the garden, which is bounded on the S. by the river Lea.

The house is especially interesting, as part of the wing is constructed of the remains of two mediæval buildings.

The wing is about 14 ft. wide internally, and, except where it adjoins the house, is used for stabling, cellarage, etc., on the ground floor, and has lofts above. In about the middle of its length is a coal cellar, of which the N. and S. walls appear to have been the S. and N. walls respectively of two 15th-century domestic buildings, separated by a narrow alley about 10 ft. wide; the upper storeys of both fronts projected, so that at the first floor level the buildings were about 6 ft. apart, and were apparently connected by a bridge. On the W. side of what was originally the S. building are also traces of a balcony or outside gallery, which opened on to the bridge; this building is of early 15th-century date, and was originally about 20 ft. wide, but has been reduced to 14 ft., the width of the N. building, which was constructed later in the same century. The E. walls are hidden by a modern malting house. The S. building has, in the N. wall, on the cellar side, a wooden window of two pointed lights with pierced spandrels and moulded heads, jambs and mullions, now blocked. E. of the window is a blocked doorway of oak, with a hollow-chamfered, four-centred arch; it was probably in the middle of the original wall, as the former width of the building is shown by two cambered tie-beams which have been re-used in the roof, one complete, and the other cut down to 14 ft. The N. front of the upper storey has disappeared, but a few of the cantilevered beams which carried it remain in situ. On the W. front the head of the ground storey studs is formed by a moulded beam, which shows traces of having received the supports of an outside gallery, the mouldings being stopped against plain blocks. The rest of the wing is repaired with, and partly constructed of, mediæval fragments, many being moulded. At least three bays remain of the N. building, each about 12 ft. long; in the S. wall, on the first floor, is a doorway with a four-centred head, and in the W. wall of the same floor are the remains of a wood mullioned window of three or four lights. Of the roof three imperfect plain king-post trusses remain, with slightly cambered tie-beams and curved bracketing to the king-posts.

Condition—Bad.

^b(7). House, on the N. side, known as the 'Blue Boot Store', was built early in the 17th century, of timber and brick; the roofs are tiled. The original plan has been completely obscured by the construction of the shop. The elevation on the High Street has two gables, and has been re-plastered and painted. A room at the back has a ceiling divided by flat-reeded moulding into round and square panels, in which are shields with arms: two lions passant between three crosslets. In the room above this is a similar ceiling and a plaster overmantel, which is decorated with crowned roses.

Condition—Fairly good; much defaced.

^b(8). House, on the S. side, dated 1624, of plastered timber and brick, is built about three sides of a long, narrow courtyard, but the plan was probably originally L-shaped, as the house was much repaired and enlarged in the 18th and 19th centuries. A room on the ground floor is lined with early 17th-century panelling, and has an elaborate overmantel with enriched mouldings and small columns. The room above it is panelled in the same way to the spring-line of a plain plaster barrel vault; the overmantel is carried on square baluster columns, and is decorated with a small Ionic order and a heavy carved entablature, and the lunettes at each end of the room, above the panelling, are filled with elaborate strap-work in plaster; one has in it the initials I.^HS., in the other is the date 1624.

Condition—Good.

^b(9). Houses, four, of early 17th-century date, on the N. side of Ware Bridge. Three of the buildings are of three storeys, with timber-framed and plastered walls; the roofs are tiled. Both the upper storeys project in one plane, beyond the ground floor, and beyond the northernmost house is a large gateway opening into a yard at the back. One plain rectangular chimney stack remains, and is of thin 17th-century bricks. The windows and doorways are of the 18th century and modern. The fourth building, N. of the gateway, is of two storeys, the upper overhanging; the walls are timber-framed and plastered; the roof is tiled. It is probably of the same date as the others, but much altered and restored.

Condition—Good.

^b(10). Blue Coat Yard, formerly the Place House, is about 300 yards E. of the church, in a small side street N. of the High Street. The Place House was a branch establishment of Christ's Hospital, London, but the buildings were not used as a school after 1760. The courtyard is entered through a large covered gateway from the street. The building containing the gateway, and facing the street, is apparently of early 18th-century date, and is of red brick; over the gateway is a round-headed niche which formerly contained the figure of a 'Blue Coat Boy', now at another branch of the school at Hertford. On the W. side of the courtyard there is a row of twelve cottages with plastered fronts, each of two storeys and attics with dormer windows; the roofs are tiled, and the red brick chimneys are cross-shaped; the windows are mullioned and have casements. These cottages were probably built c. 1660: on the E. side of the courtyard are other buildings of early 18th-century date, formerly connected with the school.

Condition—Fairly good.

^a(11). House, No. 23, Baldock Street, about 100 yards W. of the church, is a rectangular building of plastered timber; the roof is tiled. It was built early in the 16th century, but much altered in the 18th century, and a wing added on the N. in the 19th century. The archway, opening from the street to the yard at the back, is original, though much painted; it has a three-centred head, ogee and hollow moulded, with foliate designs carved in the spandrels. The hall was probably on the first floor, as the moulded beams in the ceilings of the ground floor are apparently original. In the garden is a 15th-century stone niche for an image, with a moulded bracket and trefoiled head.

Condition—Good; much altered.

Wadesmill Road

^a(12). House, at the corner of Bourne, on the E. side of the road to Royston, at the N. end of the town, is a two-storeyed building covered with modern plaster; it retains a 17th-century central chimney stack of narrow bricks, with four octagonal shafts on a moulded base.

Condition—Good.

^a(13). The Malting, on the W. side, about 300 yards N. of the church, is a collection of red brick buildings; one is of the 17th century, and has a gable facing the road and a window of three round-headed lights, with mullions and chamfered label, all of brick.

Condition—Good.

Crib Street, E. side

^a(14). The Green Dragon Inn, is a small house, with an overhanging upper storey; the walls are of plastered timber; the roof is slated. It was built probably early in the 17th century, but much altered in the 18th century, repaired and re-plastered in the 19th century. The plan is rectangular, and at the back is an original chimney stack.

Condition—Fairly good; much altered.

^a(15). The Albion Inn, is a two-storeyed house, built late in the 16th or early in the 17th century, of timber and plaster, but partly re-built with modern brick; the roof is tiled. The plan is L-shaped; on the street front the ground storey is of modern brick; the upper storey is set with heavy studs, and has angle-braces at the corners. The back is roughly plastered.

Condition—Good; partly re-built.

^a(16). The Red Cow Inn, is a small house, of timber and plaster, with an overhanging upper storey; the roof is tiled. It is probably of early 17th-century date, and the chimney stacks are original.

Condition—Poor; much altered.

W. side

^a(17). Cottages (Nos. 50–54), are probably of early 17th-century date, and are built of plastered timber, with overhanging upper storeys; the roofs are tiled.

Condition—Poor; much altered.