Report

ROYAL COMMISSION ON THE ANCIENT AND HISTORICAL MONUMENTS AND CONSTRUCTIONS OF ENGLAND

Report to The Queen's Most Excellent Majesty

May It Please Your Majesty

We, the undersigned Commissioners, appointed to make an Inventory of the Ancient and Historical Monuments and Constructions connected with or illustrative of the contemporary culture, civilisation and conditions of life of the people of England, excluding Monmouthshire, from the earliest times to the year 1714, and such further Monuments and Constructions subsequent to that year as may seem in our discretion to be worthy of mention therein, and to specify those which seem most worthy of preservation, do humbly submit to Your Majesty the following Report, being the thirty-fifth Report on the work of the Commission since its first appointment.

2. With regret we have to record the retirement from the Commission upon expiry of term of office of Professor Maurice Willmore Barley, Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.

3. We thank Your Majesty for the appointment to the Commission of Professor Mark Girouard and for the reappointment of Professor Sheppard Sunderland Frere, Fellow of the British Academy, Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.

4. We have pleasure in reporting the completion of our Survey of the City of Salisbury (exclusive of the Cathedral Close) in which we have identified 595 Monuments dating from before 1850. We believe that no relevant Monument known at the time of writing has been omitted from the survey.

5. Following our customary practice we have compiled a detailed and comprehensive Inventory of these Monuments, which we intend shortly to issue as the first volume of a non-Parliamentary publication entitled 'Ancient and Historical Monuments in the City of Salisbury'. (The second and final volume, now in process of compilation, will comprise an Inventory of the Cathedral and other Monuments in the Cathedral Close.)

6. As in our previous publications, the Inventory will be prefaced by topographical and historical notes and by a discussion of the principal stages in the architectural development of the City.

7. Our thanks are due to incumbents and churchwardens and to many custodians, owners and occupiers of secular buildings who have kindly permitted us and members of our staff to enter and investigate the Monuments in their ownership or charge. We acknowledge help freely given by officers of the Wiltshire County and Salisbury District Councils, notably Mr. F.W. Crocker, Controller of Planning Services, Mr., B.M. Little, F.L.A., Divisional Librarian, and Mr. D.M. Frost, A.L.A., Director of the City Library. We are particularly grateful for much valuable assistance from Miss P. Rundle, M.A., Archivist in charge of the City Muniments, Miss P.K. Stewart, M.A., Assistant Diocesan Archivist, and Mr. P.R. Saunders, B.A., A.M.A., Curator of the Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum. We acknowledge our indebtedness to the goodwill and learning of the late Hugh de Saumarez Shortt, Curator of the Museum until his death in 1975.

8. We humbly recommend to Your Majesty's notice the following Ancient and Historical Monuments in the City of Salisbury (excluding the Close), as Most Worthy of Preservation:

Earth works and archaeological remains

(1) OLD SARUM, banks and ditches of an Iron Age hillfort and remains of a superimposed Norman castle, all now in the guardianship of the Secretary of State for the Environment.

(2) CATHEDRAL AT OLD SARUM and associated remains, comprising foundations of mediaeval building and cemeteries, also in the guardianship of the Secretary of State.

(16) CITY DEFENCES, comprising remains of a 13th-century rampart and ditch which formerly enclosed the E. side of the City of New Sarum.

Ecclesiastical buildings

(3) ST. THOMAS's CHURCH, of 13th-century origin, but largely rebuilt in the 15th century with a spacious and well-proportioned nave and a highly enriched timber roof; the 15th-century "Doom" painting is noteworthy.

(4) ST. MARTIN'S CHURCH, with a 13th-century chancel, a 14th-century tower and spire, and a 15th-century nave and aisles.

(5) ST. EDMUND'S CHURCH (redundant and closed for worship; leased by Salisbury District Council to St. Edmund's Arts Trust), comprising a large chancel with flanking chapels which was added in the 15th century to a 13th-century cruciform church, since demolished. The tower on the site of the 13th-century crossing is a rare example of Cromwellian Gothic architecture.

(6) ST. LAWRENCE'S CHURCH, of 13th-century origin, but mainly of the 15th century and with an 18th-century W. tower.

(8) ST. ANDREW'S CHURCH, a small 14th-century building associated with the poet George Herbert.

(9) ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH, the early 12th-century church of the adjacent village of Harnham, retaining several original features and a painting of c. 1260.

(10) ST. OSMUND'S CHURCH, designed by A.W.N. Pugin, 1847.

(11) ST. JOHN'S CHAPEL, a well-preserved bridge chapel of 1240, now a house.

Major secular buildings

(14) THE COUNCIL HOUSE, formerly St. Edmund's College, a mansion of late 16th-century origin, altered and refronted c. 1750 and extensively enlarged by S.P. Cockerell in 1790.

(15) POULTRY CROSS, a market shelter of 15th-century origin, extensively restored in 1852.

(17) AYLESWADE BRIDGE, dating from 1240, enlarged in 1774.

(19) MILFORD BRIDGE, including late 14th or early 15th-century material.

(22) GENERAL INFIRMARY, designed by John Wood of Bath, 1767.

(26) ST. NICHOLAS'S HOSPITAL, dating from 1230 and retaining parts of the original fabric, designed to accommodate the sick of both sexes in two parallel wards, each with a chapel.

(27) TRINITY HOSPITAL, of 1702, an almshouse for twelve people, comprising four ranges enclosing a small courtyard.

(33) FROWD'S ALMSHOUSES, erected in 1750.

Other secular buildings

Of mediaeval origin

(40–44) Nos. 15–19 OATMEAL ROW, timber-framed houses dating from the 15–17th century, worthy of restoration.

(63) Nos. 48–52 SILVER STREET, timber-framed houses built in 1471.

(71) WHEATSHEAF INN, comprising a small 14th-century and a larger 15th-century house, the latter well-preserved.

(82) Nos. 52–4 HIGH STREET, a well-preserved row of 14th-century timber-framed houses.

(83–4) Nos. 56–8 HIGH STREET, 15th-century timber-framed houses masked by later features.

(97) CHURCH HOUSE, the largest and best-preserved 15th-century house to remain in Salisbury, with a well-restored open hall, parlour and solar.

(102) No. 91 CRANE STREET, a large house partly of the 14th century and partly of the 16th century, retaining mediaeval roofs and 16th-century plasterwork.

(106) No. 47 NEW STREET, a 14th-century stonewalled house with 16th-century timber-framed additions.

(128) No. 8 QUEEN STREET, a mid 15th-century timber-framed house containing 17th-century carved panelling of good quality.

(129) No. 9 QUEEN STREET, a well-preserved timber-framed house probably built in 1306, the oldest datable house in the city.

(132) Nos. 15–18 QUEEN STREET, formerly the Plume of Feathers Inn, a group of timber-framed buildings dating from the 14th century and including a picturesque 17th-century staircase.

(140) No. 21 MILFORD STREET and adjoining houses incorporating the Bolehall, an important 14th-century merchant's house.

(158) Nos. 2–14 GUILDER LANE, a row of timber-framed 15th-century cottages.

(173) GEORGE INN, the remaining range of a large 14th-century courtyard inn with a picturesque W. facade and much original timber framework. A first-floor room retains a false hammerbeam roof with original carved enrichment.

(174) Nos. 11 and 13 HIGH STREET, two 15th-century houses with interesting interior fittings.

(185) THE HALL OF JOHN HALL, the surviving fragment of a large 15th-century house, with a highly enriched open roof, original heraldic glass and a carved stone chimneypiece.

(203) BELL and CROWN INN, of the mid 14th century.

(219) RED LION HOTEL, a well-preserved 14th-century timber-framed range containing much original material.

(253) Nos. 3 and 5 ST. JOHN'S STREET, timber-framed 15th-century houses.

(290–1) Nos. 60–66 ST. ANN'S STREET, late 15th and early 16th-century timber-framed houses.

(302) WINDOVER HOUSE, a large house of 14th-century origin with four ranges enclosing a courtyard.

(305) No. 18 ST. ANN'S STREET, a small 14th-century timber-framed house.

(328) No. 8 ST. NICHOLAS ROAD, retaining some part of the 13th-century De Vaux College.

(341) HOUSE, probably of the 14th century, at the S.E. corner of Blue Boar Chequer.

(344) RANGE Of BUILDINGS, once part of the Boar Inn, built in 1444.

(399) PHEASANT INN and SHOEMAKERS' HALL, timber-framed buildings respectively of the 15th and 17th centuries.

(576) ROSE and CROWN HOTEL, including a 14th-century range with an original crown-post roof.

(588) HARNHAM MILL, a well-preserved industrial building of c. 1500, with walls of chequered flint and ashlar, containing original windows and doorways of good architectural quality.

of 16th and 17th-century origin

(36) No. 29 CHEESEMARKET, a fine 17th-century town house with a good carved staircase.

(247) No. 53 PAYNE'S HILL, a small house dating from the last quarter of the 17th century.

(252) KING'S ARMS HOTEL, a timber-framed building, mainly of the 16th and 17th centuries, with interesting features.

(273) BARNARD'S CROSS HOUSE, a substantial late 17th-century house.

(293) JOINERS' HALL, an early 17th-century Guild Hall, a property of the National Trust.

(304) CRADOCK HOUSE, probably of 1619.

(359) No. 47 WINCHESTER STREET, a medium-sized town house of 1673.

(526) HOUSE, in Bemerton, with an interesting cruck roof.

(528) BEMERTON RECTORY, an interesting stone building of 1630.

(549) PARSONAGE FARM HOUSE, a 16th-century country house with interesting original fittings and a pleasing early 19th-century facade.

(557) MAWARDEN COURT, a house of c. 1600 with additions probably of 1673.

(581) OLD PARSONAGE FARM, a 16th-century timber-framed building.

Of 18th and 19th-century origin

(87) No. 47 HIGH STREET, a large house of c. 1700, with interesting fittings.

(99) AUDLEY HOUSE, an early 18th-century town house.

(101) No. 93 CRANE STREET, a handsome town house of c. 1700.

(110) No. 33 NEW STREET, a well-preserved 18th-century house.

(133) No. 20 QUEEN STREET, with a fine mid 18th-century staircase.

(199) THE HALL, No. 4 New Street, a substantial mid 18th-century town house with good interior fittings.

(254) WHITE HART HOTEL, a building of c. 1820 with a conspicuous portico.

(287) No. 82 ST. ANN'S STREET, an early 18th-century house with late 18th-century extensions.

(289) No. 68 ST. ANN'S STREET, a fine mid 18th-century house incorporating parts of an earlier building.

(299) Rotunda, No. 42 St. Ann's Street, now a gallery of Salisbury Museum, comprising a dining room of c. 1812 with plasterwork of good quality.

(307) No. 6 ST. ANN'S STREET, a large house of c. 1750 incorporating an earlier building.

(419) No. 1 CASTLE STREET, the remaining part of a handsome 18th-century town house with an impressive pilastered facade and good internal fittings.

(427) No. 45 CASTLE STREET, an interesting 18th-century house with fittings of good quality.

Groups of buildings

The facades of certain buildings, not by themselves important enough for inclusion in the list, yet merit preservation because they belong, visually, to groups of buildings generally illustrative of Salisbury in former times. Such groups are: (1) the S. side of Crane Street, from High Street to Crane Bridge; (2) both sides of High Street, from the Crane Street crossing to the Close gateway; (3) both sides of St. Ann's Street.

9. The foregoing lists have a purely scholarly basis. In compiling them we have considered the archaeological and architectural importance of each Monument, its rarity in the national as well as in the local field and the degree of cultural loss that would result from its destruction, always bearing in mind the extent to which the Monument is connected with or is illustrative of the contemporary culture, etc. of the people in England, as required in Your Majesty's Warrant. We have taken no account of attendant circumstances such as cost of maintenance or difficulty of preservation.

10. We desire to commend the work done by our executive staff in the production of the Inventory, in particular by the editor, Mr. G.U.S. Corbett, O.B.E., Ph.D., F.S.A., and by our investigators, Mr. N. Drinkwater, O.B.E., T.D., A.R.I.B.A., F.S.A., Mr. D.J. Bonney, B.A., F.S.A., Mrs. H. Bonney, B.A., Mr. J.A. Reeves, F.S.A., Dr. B.E.A. Jones, M.A., and Mr. N.J. Moore, M.A., M.Phil., by our photographers, Messrs. W.C. Light and R.E.W. Parsons, and by our illustrator, Mr. P.A. Spencer. We are also grateful for help from our investigator, Mr. C.F. Stell, M.A., A.R.I.B.A., F.S.A. The index was compiled by Mrs. H.M. Green.

11. In conclusion we desire to commend our Secretary and General Editor, Mr. R.W. McDowall, O.B.E., M.A., F.S.A., who continues to afford unremitting assistance to us in the discharge of Your Majesty's Commission.

All of which we submit to Your Majesty with our humble duty.

Signed:

ADEANE

MARGADALE

H.C. DARBY

C.A. RALEGH RADFORD

H.M. COLVIN

A.J. TAYLOR

W.F. GRIMES

S.S. FRERE

15th December, 1976

R.J.C. ATKINSON

JOHN BETJEMAN

H.M. TAYLOR

G. ZARNECKI

J.K.S. ST. JOSEPH

PAUL ASHBEE

A.R. DUFTY

MARK GIROUARD

R.W. MCDOWALL (Secretary)