Marsh Chequer

Marsh Chequer

(262) Houses, two adjoining, Nos. 11 and 13 St. Ann's Street, are two-storeyed with attics and have brick walls and tiled roofs; they were built early in the 19th century.

(263) House, at the S.W. corner of the chequer, is of three storeys with brick walls and a slated roof and was built c. 1840.

(264) 'The Priory', house, of three storeys with brick walls with ashlar dressings and with tiled roofs, is of early 17th-century origin. The third storey was built in the 18th century, replacing former attics and making use of 17th-century ovolo-moulded stone windows with square-headed lights. In the 19th century the two lower storeys of the W. front were remodelled and windows of 16th-century style were supplied, but an original ashlar-faced two-storeyed porch was retained; at the same time additional rooms were built on the E. of the original range. Inside, the ground-floor rooms and stairs have 19th-century fittings in Jacobean style. The N.W. room on the first floor retains 17th-century oak panelling and an enriched chimneypiece of the period; in the S.W. room the chimneypiece and flanking alcoves are of the 18th century. On the second floor the E. wall of the W. range retains blocked 17th-century windows, presumably of former gables.

(265) House, No. 93 Brown Street, is three-storeyed with brick walls and tiled roofs. Although mainly of late 18th-century date, the S. wall is of the 17th century and contains blocked windows which correspond in level and size with those of 'The Priory' (264). Presumably this wall originally fronted a wing of 'The Priory' on the N. of the forecourt. Inside, the plan is of class U.

(266) Houses, two adjoining, Nos. 91 and 89 Brown Street, are two-storeyed with attics and have brick walls and tiled roofs. They date from the first half of the 18th century. Although No. 91 is larger, with four bays instead of three in the W. front (Plate 79), the two dwellings were built at the same time and the plat-band and coved eaves cornice are continuous. The enlarged doorway and the first-floor bow window of No. 91 are of the 19th century. Beside the chimneybreast in the W. ground-floor room of No. 89 is a shell-headed niche with carved enrichment and shaped shelves (Plate 95).

(267) House, No. 87 Brown Street, of two storeys with an attic, has brick walls and a tiled roof and is somewhat later in date than No. 89 (266), which it adjoins (Plate 79). Inside, the W. ground-floor room is lined with fielded softwood panelling in two heights; other rooms have dados and the hall has a reset 17th-century panelled oak dado. The stairs are of the 18th century.

(268) House, No. 81 Brown Street, of two storeys with an attic, with brick walls and a tiled roof, probably dates from early in the 18th century. The four-bay W. front has plain sashed windows and a moulded brick plat-band. Inside, the plan is a variant of class U, with no corridor between the two W. rooms. The stairs are original. The S.W. room, lined with fielded panelling, has a shell-headed niche with shaped shelves.

(269) Houses, Nos. 71–5 Brown Street, at the N.W. corner of the chequer, are two-storeyed with timber-framed walls and tiled roofs and appear to be of the mid 16th century. The first floors are jettied to N. and W. and there is a dragon beam at the N.W. corner. The roof truss at the N. end of the S. range (Nos. 73–5) is closed, suggesting that these houses were not originally an extension of No. 71. The roof of No. 71, ridged E.–W. and with a gable to Brown Street, is of four bays with collared tie-beam trusses, queen-struts, clasped purlins and curved wind-braces. For history, see monument (270).

(270) Cottages, twelve uniform dwellings, Nos. 14–20 and 26–40 Trinity Street, are two-storeyed with attics and have brick walls and tiled roofs; they date from late in the 18th or early in the 19th century. No. 22/4, a house of three storeys with brick walls and a slated roof, takes the place of two former cottages and is of the first half of the 19th century.

The tenement (269) at the N.W. corner of the chequer and others on the site of these cottages, extending E. as far as the Town Ditch, were owned in 1455 by the Vicars Choral; (fn. 1) they had been given under the will of Thomas Chapelyn junior (d. 1415) to maintain a perpetual chantry for himself and his parents in the cathedral. (fn. 2) The property then comprised five dwellings and still did so in 1649, but by 1671 there were six, with gardens and a passage to 'a common house of office' over the ditch. (fn. 3) In 1649 the E. tenement of the group was a bakehouse; in 1794 it was leased to Robert Wood, baker. (fn. 4) It still is a baker's shop.

The N.E. corner of the chequer, now occupied by late 19th-century dwellings, was formerly called Shove's Corner. The history of the tenements can be traced through deeds of the Tailors' Guild from 1369 to 1854. (fn. 5)

(271) House, No. 45 St. Ann's Street, is of two storeys with an attic and has brick walls and tiled roofs. The rendered S. front is of c. 1900, but chamfered beams and some original joinery seen inside indicate a small dwelling of c. 1700. In plan each storey has a front room and a back room with a central chimney-stack between them. The stairs, with turned balusters and a moulded handrail, rise E. of the chimney-stack.