The borough of Warwick: Introduction, the suburbs from c. 1600

THE SUBURBS FROM c. 1600.

The form of the medieval suburb of West Street has persisted until the present day with remarkably few changes. The line of small dwellings at each side of the road to Stratford terminated at the site of St. Lawrence's chapel (fn. 1) until the 20th century, and many of the houses still remain to make this the most picturesque approach to the town along tree-lined pavements. The steep incline towards the West Gate gives some idea of Warwick's defensive strength.

The suburb in 1830 was described as 'wide and airy' and consisted of 'low houses inhabited by the working classes of the community'. (fn. 2) The hearth tax returns of two centuries earlier confirm the impression of small houses: the average for the district was under two hearths in each house, and 55 were not liable to taxation at all. (fn. 3) Architectural evidence, too, indicates the subdivision of larger houses, often into very small dwellings. (fn. 4)

Until the beginning of the 19th century the suburb retained its medieval proportions. The extension of the castle grounds deprived the inhabitants of their access to the river from Sanders Row to High Ladsome in 1744, and to Low Ladsome in 1777, though an alternative washing place and cistern was provided. (fn. 5) Properties on the south side of the street were thus sandwiched between the road and the castle gardens, though further from the town long narrow gardens extended from some houses to the castle park. (fn. 6) To the north, the area between West Street and Friar Street was first developed in the early 19th century. The names of the new streets recalled not only the former friary - Friar Court, Monk Street and Chapel Court - but also contemporary Warwick industrialists whose workers were housed there. Crompton Street was first rated in 1825, Monk Street and Woodhouse Street in 1827. (fn. 7) By 1851 this development had reached the line of Lower Friars, completely absorbing the land between West Street and the Lammas lands. Closely-packed houses were freely interspersed with inns and skittle alleys, but the only industry was the tannery of Samuel Burbury. (fn. 8) Further development took place in Hampton Road in the early years of the 20th century and a cricket field was established by 1904. (fn. 9) More residential land was offered in 1911 (fn. 10) and building continued. Expansion took place after the Second World War and by 1955 the Forbes Estate was developed by the corporation to the line of the Gog Brook. (fn. 11) Subsequently the Aylesford High School has been built across the boundary. Development in the 1960s took place to the south of West Street behind existing houses against the castle park.

Brick fronts and plaster rendering conceal many timber-framed buildings in West Street, which include two medieval houses and several examples from the early 17th century. No. 105 ('Tinker's Hatch') is a small medieval wealden house with, originally, a single-storied hall and a two-storied, jettied bay at its south end. In addition there may have been a corresponding storied bay to the north. The hall, with a floor now inserted, has smokeblackened timbers from the open hearth. The roof has trusses of queen-strut type, and the central truss over the hall appears to have had arch braces to a cambered collar-beam. The framework is apparently in large panels. Nos. 67-71 originally formed one substantial house comprising two gabled cross-wings with a hall range between them. The wings, of two bays, are jettied out on broad joists and have closeset studs at their street fronts. These are probably of the late 15th century, and the hall may be contemporary with a later chimney. Later additions at the rear of the wings and interior details suggest that the house had been divided by the 18th century, 'Park Cottage', at the west end of the street, but not aligned with it, is a 'T'-planned building comprising a jettied cross-wing of the early 16th century, and a hall range which may be a little later. A large central stack is common to hall and wing. A former making at the rear of the wing has been rebuilt to provide extra accommodation.

At least three houses may in origin be dated c. 1600. Nos. 73-79 is a long range now confused by the insertion of partition walls, but possibly comprising two-storied dwellings on a three-roomed plan. At the east end of the street, No. 18 was probably part of a three-storied range, the top floor projecting on exposed joists. Nos. 96-98 was originally a low-walled timber-framed structure of similar date, but was subsequently heightened to a full two stories with attics late in the same century, and probably plastered in the 18th century when it was divided into two cottages. The large porch-like projection to Nos. 21-23, formerly the Malt Shovel Inn, suggests that the building may have originated c. 1630 if not earlier. Contemporary with it are Nos. 87-91 and 81-85, both houses of similar type, and examples of the later subdivision of dwellings in the street. The former represents a two-storied house of two bays with square panelling to the upper floor and close studding to the ground floor. A central passage led into a heated hall with the chimney in the north wall and an unheated room to the south. The small stair wing which overlaps the central passage at the back of the house has a stair with shaped balusters and newel posts. The original stair to Nos. 81-85 was probably no more than a straight ladder flight from the hall alongside the chimney.

The outstanding house of the early 17th century in the street is the Tudor House Hotel, a large timberframed building of two stories and gabled attics. It was originally a two-bay building with central stack and lobby entrance, but later incorporated a lower building at the east end as a further bay to form the present 'L' shaped plan. The jettying of the first floor and attics extended across the east end of the original house and is still visible internally. The framing is of close-studding to the ground floor and small panels with chevron work to the first floor. The attic story has a frieze of quarter-rounds and gables with diagonal struts similar to the 1634 range in Swan Street. (fn. 12) Nos. 3 and 5 ('Westgate Lodge') are two cottages made from a timber-framed barn of the 17th century. Nos. 21-23, south of the former Malt Shovel Inn, is a terrace of mostly 19th-century brick houses, which clearly contain earlier framed structures including 'Leycester's Loft' of probable 16th-century origin. Opposite, on the north side of the street, are more brick-faced houses, and other new brick houses, dating from c. 1830.

From the built-up area the Stratford road runs south-west between the corporation sewage works and the landing ground to the hamlet of Longbridge, at the junction with the Sherbourne and the Barford roads. The tithes of this district formed part of the income of the corporation granted in 1545. (fn. 13) One open field, Longbridge Field, lay mostly to the south of the hamlet, between the river and a lane leading due south towards Barford mill. Associated with it were the meadows of Longbridge, Broad Hale, Narrow Hale, Lea Meadow and Barford Meadow. (fn. 14) In 1633 Humphrey Staunton was reported as a presumed depopulator in respect of 80 acres at Longbridge. (fn. 15) At least some of the lands were inclosed in 1663, the principal owners being John Staunton, esquire, Thomas Sanders, gent., and William Boyse, yeoman. (fn. 16) The Stauntons later bought Boyse's land. (fn. 17) The meadow land continued in common at least until 1788, (fn. 18) and three teams were reported in the hamlet about 1730. (fn. 19)

The family of Staunton or Stanton held land in Longbridge at the latest by 1460. (fn. 20) In 1616 Humphrey Staunton's property was valued at nearly £1,000, including leases worth £600, (fn. 21) and by 1796 the estate was considered worth £12,000. (fn. 22) Longbridge was the home of William Staunton (d. 1848) the Warwickshire antiquarian and collector. (fn. 23) The settlement seems always to have been small: in 1730 there were eight houses, (fn. 24) clustered around what is known as Longbridge Manor. An inventory of the goods of Humphrey Staunton of Longbridge in 1616 reveals that the manor-house then comprised a hall, parlour, and kitchen, with chambers over, and attics. (fn. 25) What might tentatively be identified as the hall and chamber above it, together with a room to the south, survives, the rest having presumably been removed when the large block was built c. 1700 at its south end. The framing of the early range is of close-set studs and, below the wall plate, of square panels with quarter rounds. The stair, c. 1625, is in a small projecting wing on the east side; it has heavy turned balusters and newels with carved finials and pendants. The whole wing appears to have been built in the late 16th or early 17th century perhaps on the foundations of part of the medieval house. Other houses in Longbridge include Longbridge Cottage, a small, two-storied house of the early 16th century. On plan a simple rectangle, the house has a central hall and narrow, two-storied end bays. It is not clear whether the present chimney-stack served an open hall originally or was built when a floor was inserted there. The Old House, formerly a farmhouse, and the nearby barn date from c. 1600, though the house was extensively rebuilt in brick c. 1830. It originally had a framed central hall with a crosspassage at its western end, flanked by jettied crosswings of two stories. The long framed service wing at the rear contains re-used timbers. Later in the 17th century the stair wing was added. The farmhouse to the north-west of Longbridge Manor dates from c. 1640.

To the west of the town, between Theatre Street and the Common Brook, the land drops away giving a view over the Racecourse. The area was formerly known as Levenhull or Linen Hill and formed part of the possessions of St. Sepulchre's Priory. (fn. 26) The Marble House, 'Mr. Yardly's new house', had been built there by c. 1650. (fn. 27) Humphrey Yardley sold the house and adjoining land, stretching from Linen Street to the line of Parkes Street, to Francis Smith, the Warwick architect, in 1724. The name Marble Yard, often given to the property, is derived from Smith's marble mason's yard which was on the premises. (fn. 28) Smith died in 1738 and his son William in 1747, the property passing to William's sister, Elizabeth, wife of John Stokes of Dippens. (fn. 29) Their son, Francis, sold the estate to William Parkes, senior (d. 1806). Parkes increased the estate by acquiring property adjoining to the north, held in 1788 by a Mr. Love, (fn. 30) where he built his mill in 1796 and developed Parkes Street and Wallace Street in the year following. William Parkes, the younger, sold the Marble House and his interest in the firm to his uncle, John Parkes, in 1819, but after 1822 when the firm of Parkes, Brookhouse and Crompton collapsed, the property was split. The factory and a house to the north of Marble House, known variously as North Marble Yard, (fn. 31) Levenhull House, (fn. 32) and the Firs, were sold to Charles Lamb, hat manufacturer, who lived there until about 1850. It was then purchased by Major Charles Mason whose descendant, the Revd. F. W. Mason, sold it to Mr. E. G. Tibbits in 1936. The Marble House was sold to Henry Couchman (d. 1838), the county bridgemaster. In 1850 it was occupied by Messrs. E. E. and John Mollady, owners of a hat factory in the town. (fn. 33) A Mr. Kirshaw acquired it soon afterwards, and his trustees sold it to Mr. E. G. Tibbits, the present owner, in 1935.

The Marble House is of local sandstone ashlar. It consists of a central tower-like structure of four stories and three bays, having two brick chimneys at the rear and twin gables with ogee-headed parapets at the front. A central projecting three-storied porch has a round-headed entrance and is flanked by four-storied stone-mullioned bay windows. In 1812 William Parkes, the younger, added two-storied side wings of ashlar with crenellated parapets. The Firs, built about 1690 or possibly earlier, of three stories, was enlarged about 1812. A small two-storied portion on the south side is of 17th-century construction. To the east of this property, adjoining the former St. Mary's and St. Paul's School in Theatre Street, is a barn of the 17th century and two cottages of the same date, timber-framed, consisting of one story and attic, now covered in rough cast. South of Marble House, dwellings in Linen Street were built between 1820 and 1825, (fn. 34) now replaced. By 1851 these included 24 back-to-back houses known as Union Buildings (fn. 35) which are still (1966) standing.

South of Linen Street, Hill Close Gardens (now St. Paul's Close) in 1788 formed part of the Marble House estate. (fn. 36) These overlooked the Dingle, on the edge of the Lammas lands, a tree-lined area around the Common Brook which flowed south from Parkes Pool, now St. Paul's Terrace. By 1851 Hill Close Gardens were divided into about two dozen plots, some with ornamental gardens and summer houses below the large bowling green of the Bowling Green and Commercial Inn. (fn. 37) The southern part of this area, bordering on Friar Street, was given by the Revd. Thomas Cattell to St. Mary's for a burial ground in 1824. (fn. 38) The corporation built a mortuary chapel there which became the nucleus of St. Paul's Church.

Further west are part of the Commonable Lands of St. Mary's parish, which in 1948 comprised the Lammas Field and Saltisford Common, amounting to over 225 acres. (fn. 39) The origins of these common lands are difficult to determine. There was common pasture or waste called Clay Pits lying near the Dominican friary in West Street, to the south of the Lammas Field by the middle of the 13th century. (fn. 40) At the same period St. Sepulchre's Priory held Lethenhull or Linen Hill and St. Michael's Fields, which may be identified in the centre and north of the Lammas Field. (fn. 41) At least part of these lands was converted from arable to pasture in the early 16th century, but not until 1584 has any suggestion been found that any of this had become common. In that year Thomas Oken's trustees conveyed to a group of inhabitants of St. Mary's parish a close called St. Michael's Piece and a meadow adjoining, in trust for the use of inhabitants and householders of the parish, but not for lodgers or under-tenants, to graze a gelding and a cow or two cows or a cow and a calf. (fn. 42) In 1611-12 the bailiff and burgesses purchased the Linen Fields from Mr. Belges and Mr. Cox, who had married the daughters and heirs of Richard Fisher, 'to enlarge the commons, being half years ground'. (fn. 43) It is likely that other areas were also being used for this purpose, but the destruction of records of the common lands in the fire of 1694 obviates definite conclusions. The earliest surviving roll of commoners, drawn up by inquisition in 1698, is an obvious attempt to restate an already existing arrangement. (fn. 44)

The right to graze a horse and a cow or two cows, usually known as 'two mouths', was by 1698 vested in the owners of certain houses in the parish. Customs governing these rights ensured that division of tenements, as occurred frequently during the rebuilding after the fire, (fn. 45) created no more than the original numbers of commoners - 329 according to the 1755 commoners' roll. (fn. 46) No commoner could let or sell his rights nor encroach on the rights of others. The owner of two houses with commons could use only the quota for the house he actually lived in; and this applied when two houses were knocked together. Other customs forbade 'mangy or evil diseased' beasts and unshod horses.

The enforcement of the customs and the general administration of the lands was vested in four chamberlains elected annually by the court leet but answerable to the mayor and borough justices for their annual accounts at the Michaelmas sessions. (fn. 47) A herdsman employed by the chamberlains supervised the movements of cattle and repair of fences. Income was derived from fines for non-observance of customs, but principally from 'drives', originally held twice each year and confined to horses, but later extended to all beasts. The cattle were rounded up and commoners paid a fee for their release; in 1698 4d. was paid for each horse in the first drive, 2d. for the second. Probably the last drive took place in 1940 when a charge of 25s. was made for each horse, cow, or heifer, (fn. 48) a demand made necessary to meet expenses of the chamberlains owing to the war-time stoppage of racing. (fn. 49) Throughout much of the 19th century drives had been dispensed with because the chamberlains received sufficient income from renting out parts of the common lands principally for racing, but also for military reviews, golf, and other sports and entertainments. (fn. 50) This income enabled the chamberlains to keep fences in order and provide for other expenses of administration. Racing could not be resumed economically after the Second World War unless the course could legally be closed on race days, a problem which had arisen frequently in the previous century and a half. The corporation, therefore, was empowered by an Act of 1948 (fn. 51) to acquire the rights both of the commoners and the Race Club. The Commonable Lands thereafter became municipal property.

The Commonable Lands comprised, on the one hand, lands open all the year, and on the other the Lammas lands, the soil of which belonged to various owners and over which the commoners possessed the aftermath. The owner had the foremath, the right to enjoy the land in severally from Candlemas (1 Feb.) to Lammas (1 Aug.) when the hay crop was cut and carried. The lands were then thrown open to the commoners. West Street and Saltisford Commons formed the common proper. In 1819 a proposal was made to incorporate Swan Meadow, for which the commoners agreed to pay rent. (fn. 52) In 1854 the Saltisford Common was extended by the purchase of the foremath of the Lammas lands in Pigwells north of the railway, as compensation to the commoners for the sale of other land to the Oxford and Birmingham Railway Company in the previous year. (fn. 53) Other additions, either by purchase of new lands or of the foremath of Lammas lands, were made during the 19th century which increased the area of common proper to just over 136 acres in 1948. (fn. 54) Until about 1926 Lammas lands continued to be enclosed on 1 Feb. each year, but subsequently the chamberlains leased the foremath of much of this property also, so that the area of common for all practical purposes was increased. (fn. 55) The corporation still lets some of the property for grazing.

The Saltisford suburb remained until the end of the 18th century a line of houses on each side of the Birmingham road, bounded on the east by the Priory estate and on the north-west by the Common Brook. Only St. Michael's Hospital and two houses are shown beyond the brook by Hollar. (fn. 56) A small lane, (later Pigwell Lane, now Albert St.) gave access to the Lammas land in Upper Pigwells. Saltisford ward in the 16th century was densely populated: including the triangle now bounded by Barrack Street, North Rock, and the Holloway, 67 households were recorded in 1582, 26 of which were likely to be a burden on the parish. (fn. 57) Eight people in the area were already in receipt of parish relief, representing a fifth of the total for the whole parish of St. Mary's. (fn. 58) There were 121 hearths liable for tax in the ward in 1663. (fn. 59) The expansion of the area came at the end of the 18th century with the construction of the basin of the Warwick and Birmingham Canal in 1793, and the establishment, three years later, of the worsted spinning factory of Messrs. Brookhouse and Crompton. (fn. 60) The consequent need for artisans' dwellings led to the construction of a number of new streets towards St. Mary's Common, and also to the more intensive use of areas already developed. Parkes Street (known as West Orchard), appeared in the rate books in 1820, (fn. 61) and Wallace Street in 1827. (fn. 62) Courts and tenements were constructed behind already existing houses and approached through alleys. Mallory's Court, Pratt's Yard (fn. 63) and Burton's Court were the results of the enterprise of Daniel and Henry Mallory, linen drapers, Charles Pratt, corn, salt and coal merchant, victualler and maltster, and John Burton, carpet and worsted manufacturer. (fn. 64) New Buildings, later known as Brookhouse or Commercial Buildings, were erected further down the Birmingham road about 1813. These provided 42 dwellings, 36 back-to-back, together with the Dun Cow Inn, which the inspector of health so strongly condemned in 1849. (fn. 65)

Despite the failure of the Parkes factory in 1819 (fn. 66) the canal provided a stimulus for further development of industry. The Warwick Gas Works was built in 1822 near the basin, obtaining its raw material from the coal wharves established at the waterside. By 1851 the gas works comprised a one-storied central block and two-storied wings flanked by two octagonal gasometers. (fn. 67) The gasometers, evidently dating from 1822, are treated architecturally as brick buildings with central cupolas and Gothic windows. The central block contained the office, valve house, and 'loder' and gave access to a court in which stood a large retort. To the north of this were the coal shed, lime shed and purifying house. A circular gasometer stood a little to the east. As rail superseded water for the transportation of coal a tramway joined the gas works with the Great Western Railway across Pigwells and was used between 1828 and 1905. (fn. 68) In 1851 there was a large timber yard between the canal basin and Hill House and two others near the gas works. In Wallace Street stood the large brewery of Jaggard, Jaggard & Hiorns, and Messrs. Lamb's Hat Manufactory, together with a number of malt houses in the area. Nine public houses and several skittle alleys provided centres for entertainment. Relaxation might also be found in the public gardens of Mr. Barnes near Brookhouse Buildings, which exceeded 'any other in this place, in the produce of grapes, peaches and other rare fruit'. (fn. 69)

Apart from the tenements already noted, residential sites included three blocks of almshouses: St. Mary's Poor House, which still (1965) survives, comprises 25 small dwellings around a courtyard and gardens at the corner of Saltisford and Pigwell Lane (now Albert Street); Lower Saltisford almshouses, just beyond St. Michael's, built in 1702-3 and demolished in 1964; and John Yardley's almshouses. (fn. 70) By the middle of the 19th century terrace housing, known as Union Row or Pepper Alley, and now as Lammas Walk, had been erected south of the basin. Further need for housing at the end of the century was met by the purchase by the corporation in 1899 (fn. 71) of a section of Pigwells, followed by the erection of small brick villas in Albert, Edward, and Victoria Streets between 1901 and 1903. (fn. 72)

This purchase formed part of a piecemeal development of Pigwells and Saltisford Common which began in 1854 with the sale of a plot on the west side of Old Park Lane, now Cape Road, to the Prison Commissioners (fn. 73) and proceeded with the construction of the railway which crossed the Saltisford south of Brookhouse Buildings, running through Pigwells to Priory Park. (fn. 74) The foremath of the Lammas lands of Further and Middle Pigwells was purchased by the chamberlains of St. Mary's Common in the following year, (fn. 75) but the extension of the gas works in 1907 (fn. 76) left little common land south of the railway. To the north, between the railway and the canal, Saltisford Gardens, described as a 'community of homes', took the place of Brookhouse Buildings in 1962. (fn. 77) St. Michael's Road, opened in 1953, (fn. 78) connects Birmingham Road with the Cape. (fn. 79) The demolition of the prison in 1933 (fn. 80) made room for further residential development, now Landor and Hanworth Roads. The rest of the common remains open ground as far as the canal. Beyond is the cemetery, opened in 1855, 21 acres in extent. (fn. 81)

The Saltisford is architecturally the least distinguished of the early suburbs. The remains of St. Michael's Hospital, apart from the chapel, (fn. 82) comprise a two-storied timber-framed building of the 15th century, often known as the 'master's or priests' house'. (fn. 83) This medieval building is of two bays with close-studded framing and blocked original windows. A further bay to the west, also close-studded, and a lean-to along the south wall were added in the 17th century. It was subsequently divided into three tenements. Other timber-framed buildings in the Saltisford include a group below Northgate, of two stories, of late-16th- or early17th-century date. Most of the houses in the area, however, date from the late 18th century, though No. 31 at the foot of the hill, occupying the angle between the Saltisford and the Holloway, is an early18th-century house of brick with angle quoins. Nos. 46 and 48-52 are of similar date, the latter probably containing older work. West Rock contains small two-storied buildings, now (1966) being demolished, which have 18th- and 19th-century fronts on earlier structures. The Eagle Engineering Co. Ltd. and Always Welding Ltd. occupy a large building of the early 19th century. The three-storied frontage, extending from Nos. 63 to 73 may have consisted of three houses, or may in part have served as an inn. The central bay has a pediment and at ground floor a wide doorway. Nos. 13-29, below Northgate, a row of three-storied houses, were built c. 1820-30, Nos. 13-21 being the earlier section.

Northgate House stands outside the north gate of the town, perhaps on the site of the gatehouse of the medieval priory of St. Sepulchre or some other associated structure. (fn. 84) It is a building of eleven bays divided by a central carriageway, and was either originally one house with a converted central entrance hall, or two houses. The date 1698 appears on a rainwater head. Constructed in brick with stone dressings, it is of two stories and attics, the dormers having alternating pointed and segmental pediments. The windows on the main elevation have square heads with key-blocks, those at the side segmental arches, a variation to be found elsewhere in the county in contemporary brick houses.

The lands of St. Sepulchre's Priory, granted to Thomas Hawkins alias Fisher in 1546, (fn. 85) formed a block of property which remained virtually intact until the middle of the 19th century, effectively preventing expansion of the town in a northward direction. (fn. 86) Fisher demolished the monastic buildings and afterwards erected a house which became known as the Priory. His son sold the estate in 1582 to Mr. Serjeant (afterwards Sir John) Puckering (d. 1596). On the death of Puckering's granddaughter, Jane, in 1652 the property passed to her cousin, Henry Newton (d. 1701) who changed his name to Puckering on succeeding. At his death without issue his estate passed from his widow to her niece, Jane, widow of Sir John Bowyer, and after her death to Captain Vincent Grantham. In 1709 Grantham released his interest to Henry Wise, gardener successively to William III, Anne, and George I. Wise, however, did not gain possession until after Lady Bowyer's death in 1727. (fn. 87) The estate included, besides the park lands immediately surrounding the Priory, the manor of Woodcote, and lands at Woodloes, Lillington, and Leamington. The Wise family retained most of the property until the death of George Wise in 1888, when it descended by marriage to Sir Wathen Waller, Bt., who died in 1947. (fn. 88) The southern portion of the estate, however, became detached from the rest in 1851 when H. C. Wise conveyed the Priory and some of the surrounding parkland to the Birmingham and Oxford Junction Railway. (fn. 89) The Priory itself had been abandoned earlier: in 1809 the furniture was offered for sale as 'the property of a gentleman leaving his country residence'. (fn. 90) The house then stood empty (fn. 91) though the park was open for the use of the public. (fn. 92) A scheme in 1846 to build a railway through the park much nearer the house than the present line did not succeed, (fn. 93) and probably to prevent further encroachments it was suggested that the corporation should buy the Priory to house the literary societies of the town, and should open the grounds as a public garden. (fn. 94) After the construction of the railway had been completed, the Priory and much of the park south of the track were sold to a Mr. Scott, who in 1865 conveyed the property to Thomas Lloyd (d. 1890). (fn. 95) His son sold the park to the corporation in 1935, the greater part of the house having been demolished ten years earlier. (fn. 96) The park is now used as a public open space.

The house built by Thomas Hawkins alias Fisher is said to have been completed about 1566. (fn. 97) An estate map of c. 1711 includes a perspective view of the building before Henry Wise gained possession of it. (fn. 98) The principal range, containing the great hall, was built on a north-south axis and formed the east side of a square forecourt, the other three sides of which were enclosed by lower buildings. At the south end of the hall range a long wing projected eastwards; its south front, surmounted by small gables, overlooked the garden. To the north of this wing and behind the hall range was an irregular courtyard with another wing and outbuildings on its further side. The west front of the hall range, facing the forecourt, survived almost intact until 1925. It was of two stories and attics, built of stone ashlar, and had a row of six ogee-headed gables above the parapet. (fn. 99) At the south end the tall mullioned and transomed windows of the hall rose through both stories. Next to the hall was a projecting porch with a four-centred arch below and an oriel window above; further north were two bay windows, each of two stories, with ornamental strapwork to their parapets. Both the porch oriel and an attic window at the south gable-end of the range had similar parapets. Several of these features are typical of the earlier 17th century and occur in a number of other stone houses in Warwick, notably at the now demolished Joyce Pool House, built in 1633. (fn. 100) It is likely, therefore, that the 16th-century hall range at the Priory had been remodelled. (fn. 101) This may have taken place in 1620, a date inscribed on a stone gateway which was afterwards removed from the forecourt; there were also internal features of this period. (fn. 102) Stone mullioned windows with heavy hoodmoulds, which survived at the north gable-end of the hall range, may represent the type of window use in Fisher's original house. (fn. 103)

When he acquired the property in the early 18th century Henry Wise, as might be expected, prepared a plan for the garden. Little remains to show how much of his scheme was actually carried out. It included a formal parterre on a terrace to the south of the house and a crescent-shaped belt of trees to the east. To the north, where the ground fell away, a geometrical arrangement of avenues and pools was evidently not proceeded with; (fn. 104) it would probably have involved alterations to the existing fish-ponds (see below). Either Henry Wise or his son Matthew took down the low entrance range along the west side of the forecourt and replaced it by iron gates and railings, flanked by two square lodges. (fn. 105) Matthew's alterations to the house included the demolition of part of the east wing and the erection on its site of a large two-storied Georgian block with an imposing south front of seven bays; this was completed in 1745. (fn. 106) At some time in the 18th century the great hall was 'Gothicised' and three sash windows in this style were inserted at its south end. (fn. 107) In 1925 the internal fittings were removed (fn. 108) and the shell of the house was put up for sale. It was bought by A. W. Weddell (later U.S. ambassador to Spain) and his wife, who transported the materials to Virginia, U.S.A. There they were used, together with antique fragments from elsewhere, in the erection of Virginia House, near Richmond; the interior included a carved early-17th-century staircase from the Priory. (fn. 109) In 1966 all that remained on the Priory site was a much-altered range which had originally formed the south side of the forecourt. This is mainly single-storied and of stone ashlar but its west end consists of a two-storied brick cottage, probably of early-17th-century date. Adjoining the cottage one of the 18th-century lodges has survived.

The property to the north of the railway, together with the Pigwells, remained in the hands of the Wise and Waller families after the sale of the Priory. This area included the Priory Pools, originally the fishponds of the monastery, fed by streams from the northern part of the estate, which drove mills both north and south of the ponds on their way to St. John's Brook and the river Avon. In 1710 a mill to the north of the pools was known simply as 'corn mill', and by 1851 as Priory Mill. (fn. 110) To the south of the pools were two mills under one roof, known as Priory Mill and Frog Mill. These in 1693 were leased to John Hopkins of Birmingham, who had 'a design to furnish so many of the inhabitants of the town of Warwick as shall desire the same with water to be carried by an engine or engines and pipes . . .'. (fn. 111) Pipes were laid from the pump to a cistern at the end of Sheep Street (Northgate Street), leased by William Bolton, lord of the manor. (fn. 112) Water from this source continued to supply part of the town until after the middle of the 19th century. There were five irregularly-shaped pools by 1851, the largest having two islands, on one of which a banqueting house had earlier stood. (fn. 113) They were surrounded by trees and an osier bed lay immediately to the north-east. The lower pools had to be filled in when the railway was constructed; the Stable Pool, nearest the railway, was drained and refilled with fresh water in 1883, by which date the corporation seems to have leased them from the owner of the Woodcote estate. (fn. 114) The lease was renewed in 1922. (fn. 115) The pools have subsequently been filled and were levelled in 1965 to provide an extension to Priory Park.

North of the pools, the meadow land stretched up towards Wedgnock Park. The Warwick and Napton Canal encouraged the development of this part of the estate, building beginning at the Cape. By 1850 the meadows in the angle between Old Park Lane (now Cape Road) and the canal had been taken over by the brick and tile yards of William H. Betts and John Green, (fn. 116) together with the public house known as the 'Cape of Good Hope'. By 1888 the Regent Foundry had taken the place of the brick yards, and in 1911 the whole area between the canal and the railway was marked out for further industrial development. (fn. 117) In the event most of the area not immediately bordering the canal became residential in the late 1920s and early 1930s. (fn. 118)

To the west lies the area known as the Packmores. The fishpond and park of 'Pakkemor' were part of the castle lands in 1268, (fn. 119) and a preserve existed there in 1298. (fn. 120) It had become a meadow by 1315, when it was associated with another meadow called 'Tappingsmed', (fn. 121) but in 1369 it was described as a pasture. (fn. 122) John Bonharry had the office of keeper of conies at the Packmores and elsewhere in 1423, (fn. 123) and in 1488 a royal servant was rewarded with the grant of pastures called 'Pekemore' and 'Tappyngisclose' for keeping the hares in the warren. (fn. 124) Robert Throckmorton had the profits of the pasture by Crown lease in 1553, the reversion of which was granted to Ambrose Dudley in 1562. (fn. 125) Dudley held the property at his death, by which time it was leased to Reginald Brome and William Clerke, (fn. 126) but it was not included in the grant of the castle in 1604 to Sir Fulke Greville. It appears instead to have descended with the manor of Warwick to the Bolton family. (fn. 127) In 1687 William Bolton was certainly in possession of the Packmores, containing 42 acres divided up into no fewer than eighteen closes, as well as the two Tappings Closes. (fn. 128) The fragmentation of the Packmores into eighteen small closes without houses still held good in 1715, (fn. 129) and suggests that they may have been let individually to townspeople. The land presumably reverted to the earl with the manor of Warwick in 1742, and undoubtedly belonged to the castle estate in 1788, when the 'Packmoor Meadows' consisted of 21 closes, mostly long, narrow rectangles which have the appearance of ancient leys of meadow, then fenced in. (fn. 130) South of these were six other enclosed meadows, also part of the castle estate.

By 1851 these meadows had been divided into small plots approached by paths running west of Packmore Lane (later Union, now Lakin, Road). (fn. 131) A few small houses had by then been built fronting on Packmore Lane between the present Paradise Street and Vine Lane; a few others, two public houses, and a rope walk were scattered in the vicinity. Much of the rest of the area comprised small ornamental gardens, with summer houses, lawns and trees. More houses were built there in the next thirty years, and in 1882 the corporation took partial responsibility for making up Packmores Street. (fn. 132) Vine Lane was similarly made up in 1889. (fn. 133) Further north is the General Hospital, which the Warwick Poor Law Union erected in 1849. The Nurses' Home was built in 1902. Emergency medical services required during the Second World War resulted in the hutment wards and medical staff quarters, erected in 1940. On the other side of the road is Lakin House, formerly the buildings of the workhouse, established in 1838, together with a chapel of 1884. These now accommodate old people. (fn. 134) The area north of the hospital complex and bounded by the canal and the Coventry road is still (1965) in the process of development for residential purposes.

North of the canal lies open country, crossed by the line of the Warwick by-pass, and occupied by a number of farms, of which Woodloes Farm is the oldest. Traces of a moat to the north of the present house suggest that the site was in origin medieval. The present house, a two-storied sandstone building, dated 1562, was originally 'T' shaped; the re-use of earlier features in the 19th-century kitchen wing suggests that the house has been reduced in size. The present facade, with a slightly projecting central entrance bay, has a moulded plinth and an elaborate string course between the stories. The mullioned and transomed windows at first floor level project on carved consoles or brackets, originally having a gouged frieze along their heads. Three corbel-like features above the central doorway probably served to support a larger window. Fragments of the original stone chimney stacks now used as garden ornaments show them to have been octagonal grouped shafts with cylindrical flues, having moulded caps, bases and sides, the chief ornament being a form of quatrefoil diapering. (fn. 135) Other dispersed decorative stone details suggest that the original house may have had a silhouette broken by pinnacleflanked gables. By 1700 these had been reduced to plain eaves, hipped roof, and a single central gable. The original plan of the house comprised the long front range containing hall, entrance passage, and three other rooms; the shorter, rear block contains service rooms and a central stair of c. 1562 with shaped balusters leading from the hall. An interior doorway nearby, and formerly exposed towards the hall, has a decorative entablature with boldly projecting frieze and cornice, having at each end short Ionic fluted columns supported by carved corbels.

The house of Middle Woodloes Farm, now divided into three farmworkers' cottages, is a timber-framed house of c. 1600 or earlier. Cross-wings at each end of a rebuilt hall block appear to be of different dates.

The estate attached to the chantry of Guy's Cliffe (fn. 136) was granted at the dissolution of the chantry in 1547 to Sir Andrew Flammock. (fn. 137) His son William inherited the property which on his death in 1560 passed to his infant daughter, Katherine. (fn. 138) The estate, including fifteen messuages and nearly 600 acres of land at Guy's Cliffe, Ashorne, and Whitnash, was granted to Katherine's husband, John Colbourne, when she attained her majority in 1570. (fn. 139) Colbourne (d. 1600) is said to have sold the lands to William Hudson of Warwick, whose daughter married Sir Thomas Beaufoy of Emscote. They remained in the Beaufoy family until 1701, when they passed to William Edwards of Kenilworth. (fn. 140) In 1751 Edwards sold the property to Samuel Greatheed, after the death of whose son in 1826 it was acquired by the Hon. Charles Bertie Percy, who had married the heiress, Anne Caroline Greatheed. It remained in the Percy family until 1946, when the house was sold for use as a hotel. (fn. 141) In 1952 the interior was stripped (fn. 142) and by 1966 the roof had fallen in and the house had become a ruin.

Guy's Cliffe House and the chapel of St. Mary Magdalene are built on a rocky ledge on the south bank of the Avon. The chapel and Guy's Cave are described elsewhere. (fn. 143) The river flows at the base of the cliff on which the buildings stand, while behind them, to the south, rises another wall of rock enclosing a long narrow courtyard. In both rock faces are caves and a number of rock-cut chambers of various dates. In Dugdale's time the house, which may have originated as the dwelling of the chantyr priests, was a two-storied building with gabled projections and a steeply-pitched roof. It stood some distance to the west of the chapel and beyond it was a detached still-house. (fn. 144) Soon after Samuel Greatheed bought the estate in 1757 he built a new and larger house on the site. A report of 1757 (fn. 145) describes six of the rooms as 'lately built from the foundation', suggesting that other rooms may have belonged to the earlier house. The same report mentions the triumphal arch at the entrance to the courtyard and the stables cut into the rock face along its south side. Later alterations and additions have obscured the exterior of Greatheed's house except for its south front which faces the courtyard. This is of two stories and attics, with a semi-basement below; it is faced with stone and has seven bays, the end bays being surmounted by pediments at eaves level. The 18thcentury house included a parallel north range between this block and the cliff edge, while at least by 1788 there was also a west wing with a central pediment and a central entrance to its main front. (fn. 146) The straight avenue leading from this front to the Coventry road is probably also of 18th-century origin. Between 1813 and 1824 the north and west sides of the house were much altered by Samuel's son, Bertie Bertie Greatheed (d. 1826). (fn. 147) Acting as his own architect, he gradually converted the Georgian building into a romantic pile with an irregular silhouette. He raised the river front in height and built connecting arcades to the tall chimneys behind it. Two projecting bay windows became tower-like features with ogee-headed gables between them. The west front was given a central turret, flanked by similar gables. After 1819 an arcaded verandah was added to this front and the west wing was extended at both ends; the northern extension, which projected beyond the cliff face, was carried on piers at the level of the lower garden. At the same time a retaining wall, pierced by two tiers of arches, was built to support a flat terrace to the west of the house. Additions on the east side included a kitchen wing in the Gothic style which formed a connecting link between house and chapel. The only substantial late-19th-century addition was the work of Lord Algernon Percy in 1898; (fn. 148) this included a fourstoried polygonal tower on the courtyard side of the west wing.

The history of Guy's Mill, situated about 250 yds. north of the house and in Leek Wootton parish, has been given elsewhere. (fn. 149) The present mill and part of the miller's house, both much altered in the 20th century, were rebuilt c. 1751 and embellished in 1813. (fn. 150)

The eastern end of Jury Street terminates at the East Gate. (fn. 151) Smith Street slopes sharply away from it eastwards, the road under the gate having been raised in 1811. (fn. 152) At the top of the slope on the north side of the street is a group of buildings dominated by Landor House, now occupied by the Girls' High School, consisting of a timber-framed jettied range with close-studded walls, known as 'The Cottage', and Landor House itself. The former was probably built c. 1500 and originally comprised two dwellings. The gabled wing at the west end may have served as a solar to an earlier house, now represented by the long range extending to Landor House. The interior of the wing is much altered, but the first floor originally consisted of a room of one bay nearest the street and, beyond, a large room of two bays. The roof retains its original trusses with heavy tie and collar beams. The long range fronting Smith Street was originally of four bays, later reduced to two. Its position indicates that the town ditch was filled at this point by c. 1500.

Landor House, the birthplace of Walter Savage Landor (1775-1864), incorporates at its rear a medieval timber-framed wing in Chapel Street which presumably served as a kitchen and service block to a house which Landor House replaced. The junction of 'The Cottage' with the west side of Landor House suggests that the former range was built up to an already existing structure which was replaced only when the present Landor House was erected. (fn. 153)

Smith Street contains at least three other medieval timber-framed houses, and still more may survive behind brick frontages of the 18th and 19th centuries. No. 74 is a wealden house of the early 15th century. (fn. 154) The Cavalier Inn is a building of c. 1500, originally a three-bay house, the central bay of which was an open hall, later floored over. The west bay was evidently a solar, the east a service room or rooms. Curved wind-braces and queen-strut roof trusses are exposed at first-floor level. A large, twostoried barn-like structure of c. 1600 or slightly earlier, which overlaps the west end of the house at the rear, probably served as a malting or warehouse. In the upper story the roof trusses were so constructed as to allow access to the whole length of the floor, an arrangement suggesting that the floor was intended for storage.

Nos. 56-58, a small altered twin-gabled structure, is of early-16th-century origin. The west gable fronts a two-bay wing with wind-braced roof. The house contains late-16th- and early-17th-century panelling, all reset. The Roebuck Inn, at the eastern end of the street on the north side, is a restored and altered house probably of the late 16th century. A similar date may be assigned to the twin-gabled house immediately west of the inn.

A number of 17th-century houses are to be found in Smith Street, including Nos. 22 and 24, a timberframed house of two stories and attics built on a high stone plinth in the second quarter of the century. Further west, Nos. 16 and 18, on the corner of Gerrard Street, were formerly one house of a similar date. Both have decorated dormer gable bargeboards with gouged and stepped soffits.

At the western end of Smith Street is a group of houses including one of stone, having a rainwaterhead with the date 1686 and the initials 'P.C.'. The two-storied framed house next to it is somewhat earlier. The end of the 17th century is represented by Landor House, designed in a style already prevalent in the town before the fire. The articles of agreement between Dr. William Johnston and the builder, Roger Hurlbut, in 1692, specified that its carved cantilevers and cornices should be 'in all respects as good as Mr. Blissett's', and that a pair of doors were to be made 'in the same form as Mr. Blissett's, with workmanship to the moulding of Shrewley stone to the same'. (fn. 155) The agreement also included alternative specifications, notably a balustrade. The present house is of two stories with attics, having a facade of brick with stone dressings. The central, three-bay, block has a doorway with segmental pediment and painted stone surround. Projecting side wings, each of two bays, have, like the central block, 18th-century sashes. There is a heavy painted wood cornice at the eaves with carved modillions. The hipped roof has three gabled dormers.

Among buildings of the 18th century Nos. 27-29 together formed one house of brick with stone dressings dating from c. 1750. The front elevation is distinguished by two small Venetian windows on the first floor and rusticated entrance doorways. Other 18th-century work of brick with stone dressings is represented by Nos. 44-46, which have an elaborate eaves cornice with an egg-and-dart moulding. Nos. 62-64 is a more substantial building of three stories, with later additions in the same century.

Hollar's map (fn. 156) indicates that Smith Street was the most thickly developed area on the eastern side of the town, though St. Nicholas Church Street had a continuous line of houses down its eastern side. One of these, now the Game of Bowls Inn, on the east side, is a hall house of the 15th century. The house originally had a central open hall of two bays between two-storied ends, with an entrance passage set within the service bay at the south. The north bay presumably served as a solar and preserves a blocked doorway from the former hall. A floor was inserted in the hall late in the 16th century and a chimney stack inserted. All the roof timbers including the central open truss in the hall are heavily smoke blackened from an open hearth sited probably at the northern end. This building represents a hall-house type. in which the. two-storied bays are not jettied but are contained within a simple rectangular plan under a single roof. Nos. 9, 11, 15, and 17, adjoining each side of the 'Game of Bowls' are timber-framed structures of the late 16th century. A long timber-framed building of two stories on the west side of the street at its northern end was built as a making c. 1600. The exposed framing is in square panels with two early window openings. At its south end the making has been converted into cottages and refronted in brick. Later buildings include Nos. 22-24 and 25-27, built probably as pairs of cottages of one story and attics in the late 17th century.

In the same area, Nos. 4 and 6 Gerrard Street have been formed from what was originally a range or terrace of four timber-framed cottages under one roof, probably built in the first half of the 16th century. Each cottage was originally two-storied, the upper part open to the roof. Nos. 7-9, opposite, are timber-framed in part, but were considerably altered when refronted in brick late in the 19th century.

According to Hollar's map (fn. 157) Tankard Lane, to the south of St. Nicholas's Church, and Dog Lane (now Priory Road) had no houses in the middle of the 17th century, and they continued to be little developed at least until the end of the 18th century. By 1851 (fn. 158) the north side of Priory Road was partly lined by the Priory Nursery. Buildings at the junction with St. John's included William Holland's encaustic tile and glass works, St. Nicholas's Sunday School, and a house known as 'The Brook' (demolished 1960). (fn. 159) Cross Street had been formed since 1788, and a line of back-to-back dwellings had been erected in Factory Yard, running parallel to Chapel Street, but a little distance to the east, and joined to it by Chapel Row. Between Factory Yard and Cross Street was a large timber yard.

According to Hollar's map, derived at this point from Speed (1610), a large tree stood at the spot where Smith Street, Dog Lane, and St. Nicholas's Church Street converged. The remains of St. John's Hospital are shown to have comprised a tall, imposing gatehouse, a chapel, and two houses. (fn. 160) This property was granted to Anthony Stoughton (d. 1575) in 1540, (fn. 161) and his grandson and namesake built a house on the site, probably in 1626. The estate remained in the Stoughton family until 1763 when Eugenia, daughter of George Stoughton (d. 1745) married James Money. (fn. 162) Their son, James, sold it to the Earl of Warwick in 1788 and it was retained by the earl's family until 1960. (fn. 163) By 1791 (fn. 164) the house had become a private school, and continued to be so used at least until 1881. (fn. 165) By 1924 it had become a military record and pay office and by 1932 also the headquarters of the Warwick Yeomanry. In 1960 the house was purchased by the Warwickshire County Council from the Earl of Warwick for use as a branch of the county museum and as a regimental museum. (fn. 166) It was opened in 1961.

St. John's House stands on the south side of the road between the eastern end of Smith Street and Coten End. It is set back behind a forecourt, entered from the road by wrought-iron gates, and consists of a front range of five bays with two wings extending to the rear. The front range and west wing are of stone ashlar, but the east, or service, wing is of coursed rubble. It has been suggested that this last may incorporate walls from the medieval hospital, (fn. 167) the building shown by Hollar as a chapel being approximately in the same position. (fn. 168) The wing is of two low stories and has ogee-headed gables to the attics. Internally there is a reset door-head dated 1626 with the initials 'A.S.', presumably for Anthony Stoughton. (fn. 169) The front range is also of two stories and attics, but on a more imposing scale. The hearth tax returns of the later 17th century suggest that Anthony's son Nathaniel, who succeeded him in 1656, rebuilt at least part of the house. In 1663 Nathaniel was assessed for nine hearths, but in 1666 his house was described as 'demolished'; later returns give assessments of six and seven hearths. (fn. 170) It is possible that Nathaniel retained the east wing but rebuilt the front range and the west wing on the site of earlier structures. Although the plan of the present building and the main outlines of its front are still in the Jacobean tradition, there are individual features which are consistent with a later 17th-century date. The north elevation, facing the road, has five attic gables, two with straight sides and three with ogee heads. The end bays are occupied with stone bay windows of two stories; these and other six- and four-light windows are mullioned and transomed. The central projecting porch, also of two stories, has a roundheaded entrance with raised and moulded voussoirs. The parapets above the porch and the bay windows are of ornamental pierced stone-work not of typically early-17th-century design. Small horizontally-set oval windows in the end gables are characteristic features of c. 1670. Internally the ground floor of the range consists of a central hall with a fireplace on its back wall, and two flanking rooms heated by gableend chimneys. The principal staircase, which has heavy turned balusters and ball-capped newels, is housed in a projection between the front range and the west wing. The staircase and other internal fittings, such as bolection-moulded chimney-pieces and panelling, are typical work of c. 1660-70. A smaller stair, occupying a partly timber-framed recess between the hall chimney and the east wing, may have belonged to the earlier house. Nathaniel Stoughton is said to have set up the gates to the forecourt; (fn. 171) the ironwork has been tentatively attributed to Nicholas Paris. (fn. 172) The stone gate-piers are surmounted by urns, now incomplete. There was formerly another gate to a carriageway entrance to the east of the forecourt. Each of its piers supported a heraldic goat, a crest associated with the family of Nathaniel Stoughton's second wife. (fn. 173)

Further east the built-up area has expanded little due, in large measure, to the common holdings in St. Nicholas Meadow which were not extinguished until 1928. (fn. 174) The meadow lay between Coten End and the river and by the beginning of the 18th century (fn. 175) extended from the gardens behind Mill Street to the line of the present Pickard Street. It was then divided between St. John's Meadow to the north and St. Nicholas Meadow bordering the river. The former was inclosed in 1773. (fn. 176) The western end of the meadow was acquired by the Earl of Warwick when the new Banbury road was constructed in connexion with the new bridge in 1790. (fn. 177) By 1816 the meadow was subject to the rights of 95 common shareholders who enjoyed the aftermath of the Midsummer lands from 5 July to 5 April each year. (fn. 178) Unlike the holders of St. Mary's Commonable Lands, (fn. 179) those of St. Nicholas could let or sell their rights. The meadow was watered not only by the river but by St. John's Brook which flowed into a large mill pond south of St. John's House and thence drove St. John's (later St. Nicholas's) corn mill. (fn. 180) As early as 1892 it was suggested that a children's playground might be made in the meadow, and in 1911 an attempt was made to provide boating facilities there. (fn. 181) In 1928 the corporation acquired the area for recreational purposes, (fn. 182) and common rights were extinguished. St. Nicholas Park was opened in 1933. (fn. 183)

The suburb of Coten End retains a few small early17th-century timber-framed houses (Nos. 2, 4, 17- 21). Of slightly earlier date is No. 24, a late-16thcentury building, formerly part of a longer range to the west which was refronted in brick in the 18th century. No. 57 is two-storied and gabled towards the street, and may have been part of a larger house dating from the early part of the 16th century. To the east of this is the 'Millwright Arms', a timberframed structure of two stories and attics built c. 1600 or slightly later. The upper floor is jettied on exposed joists, and the original entrance (as in No. 49 West Street) was at one end of the front wall. The framing is of square panels with diagonal struts. A lateral brick chimney stack is contemporary with the house, heating the hall at the west end and the room above. At the front of the house the roof slope probably had two dormer gables, of which only the western survives. Adjoining the inn at its east end is a lower timber-framed addition of one bay. No. 67 at the west end is coeval with the inn but considerably altered.

There was little development beyond Coten End until the construction of the Warwick and Napton Canal in 1800, though Messrs. Smart's cotton spinning factory was established in the area in 1792. (fn. 184) 'The Cottage' in Wharf Road is a converted stone-built farmhouse, of the late 17th century. Wharves on the canal were built for coal, slate, and timber yards and a lime works, and to serve Tomes and Handley's Navigation Mill (1805), Nunn, Brown and Freeman's Lace Manufactory (1810), Kench and Cattell's Emscote Mill (1828), and George Nelson, Dale and Co.'s Emscote Mills in Wharf Street (1837). (fn. 185) Consequent development of artisan dwellings in the area, at first in isolated units, took place in the late 1820s and 1830s. Houses in Avon Street (then Margett's Street) were being erected in 1834, and with Pickard Place, Pickard Street, and Goodhall Street formed an island of terrace development between St. Nicholas Meadow and the canal. (fn. 186) Beyond the canal to the north-east, Hill Street, at least down to 1840, was a private, gated road, leading to a brick yard and quarry. (fn. 187) Humphris Street was developed by 1857 but the area was still surrounded by brick yards (fn. 188). Saunders Street, Chapman Street, Bridge Street, and Bridge Row (fn. 189) had also been built by 1851. Nearer the town Guy Street, Cherry Street, and Broad Street were formed by the middle of the century, though few houses had been built there or in Drawbridge Lane (now the western end of Wharf Street). (fn. 190) Further north in 1851 was Cliff House, then standing in its own extensive grounds at the end of a long drive emerging in Coventry Road. (fn. 191) The house was built in the Classical style in the early 19th century. The small Classical lodge at the end of the drive is of one story with Doric columns. The grounds are now largely occupied by more modern houses. There are two stuccoed villas of the Regency period in Coventry Road, one known as 'The Woodlands'.

The construction of the railway through the area did not, at the time, discourage expansion, and the steady growth of population may be gauged by the construction of four places of worship between 1837 and 1856, and the formation of the district chapelry of Emscote in 1861. (fn. 192) Only gradually were the newly-built areas absorbed into the town in practical terms: general drainage was installed in Avon Street, for example, in 1856, but paving was not carried out to corporation specifications until 1874. (fn. 193) Villa development on the Emscote and Coventry roads proceeded during the last decades of the 19th century, (fn. 194) but the sector between the two roads remained largely open, particularly beyond the canal which now seemed to be an impediment to expansion. (fn. 195) The area was proposed for industrial building at the beginning of the 20th century, (fn. 196) but, commencing just before the Second World War, residential development which took place north of the canal has now (1965) reached the borough boundary in the form of the Percy estate. This is built on land acquired by the corporation from the estate attached to Guy's Cliffe House. (fn. 197)

The closure of the ancient entrance into the town from the south at the end of the 18th century was probably instrumental in the preservation of so many timber-framed houses in Mill Street and the Bridge End suburb. The evidence of pre-fire buildings at the southern end of Castle Street (fn. 198) suggests that the street elevations before 1600 would have consisted of low buildings either of two full stories or of one story and attics, not unlike the suburbs of West Street and Smith Street. This is borne out by the surviving houses in Mill Street constructed before that date, which include two altered wealden houses (Nos. 5-9 and 17-19) of c. 1500; they originally had two-storied jettied ends flanking a single-storied hall, all under one roof. The latter house had a coeval wing at the rear; the extra floor in its hall was inserted possibly as late as the last quarter of the 17th century. Mill House is earlier, probably of the mid 15th century. It is an altered, two-storied timber-framed building, the hall range of which is represented by a framed frontage preserved when the house was gutted and restored early in the 20th century. A cross wing at the south end of the hall has survived with a large contemporary chimney stack. The first floors of hall and wing project on heavy exposed joists, and the framing is of close-set studs with curved wall braces.

Nos. 6-10 together formed one house of the early 16th or possibly the late 15th century, altered in the early 17th century by the insertion of a floor in the hall bay. No. 10 ('Theocsbury') represents the solar end and is gabled and jettied; No. 8 the central hall and cross-passage, and No. 6 the service end. The large brick chimney stack in the hall was inserted when that bay was floored. The framing throughout is in rectangular panels. The southern part of No. 41 also probably dates from the early 16th century; it is a close-studded range of two stories with a continuous jetty. The rest of the house largely replaced a cross-wing and hall block sometime after 1884.

The only other house definitely to originate before 1600 (fn. 199) is 'Allen's House', which retains a date stone said to have come from the house, inscribed: 'M.D.L.X.V.III. This house was bilde be me Tomas Allen.' On plan the house is 'L' shaped with the principal range parallel to the street and an altered rear wing. Framing on the first floor consists of small quadrant pieces and close-set studs. The principal range is of three bays, the central forming the hall, the northern a service and entrance room, the southern a parlour. The hall was originally heated by a large lateral stack on its east wall, later replaced.

The extensive building activity of the early 17th century is reflected here as in other parts of the town. Nos. 13, 43, and 45 may be assigned to this period, the first a stone house with many later alterations. No. 45 ('Guy's Court') is an 'L' planned house of two stories and attics built c. 1625, the front range consisting of a central entrance and wide passage with a hall to the north and a parlour to the south. A chimney stack served both hall and rear wing. The lintel of the fireplace in the hall is similar to that in the east wing of St. John's. The street front is jettied on exposed joists with shaped ends, and posts with large carved heads at bay intervals give additional support. The ground floor framing is of closeset studs, with rectangular panels to the floor above.

The 18th century is represented by Nos. 12 and 18, dating externally from soon after 1700 and having plat bands and raised angle quoins. Nos. 20-26 (even numbers) are of the late 18th century, built of brick, with two stories and attics.

The south-eastern sector of the borough, between the Avon and the present Banbury Road includes the Bridge End suburb and a large stretch of open country reaching towards Bishop's Tachbrook. Until towards the end of the 18th century the area included the open fields of Bridge End and Myton, though the land around Jephson's Farm, now lying between the Avon, the Leam, and the railway, was described as 'old inclosure' in 1788. (fn. 200) In 1780 fences and sub-division mounds were erected in Bridge End Field around corporation property, (fn. 201) but the map of 1788 reveals that open fields had disappeared by that date. The units were at that time much larger, particularly in the area south of Myton Road. The ancient village of Myton was 'long since depopulated', according to Dugdale, with no more left than a grove of elms, (fn. 202) and the only residence there in 1788 was Myton House. This is a building, probably of the mid 18th century, with subsequent additions and alterations, including a Regency porch and later bay windows. There was some building in Myton Crescent in the first years of the 19th century, and Myton Grange was erected by John Gibson in 1857. (fn. 203) The lodge (1883) remains, the house having been demolished and replaced by several blocks of flats. The establishment of Warwick School in Myton Road in 1879 (fn. 204) marked the beginning of more systematic development of the area. From 1883 onwards houses were erected in Myton Hamlet, near the site of the old village. (fn. 205) Plans for a fever hospital to be built at the junction of Whitnash (now Heathcote) and Tachbrook roads, were opposed on the grounds that this new housing area would lose value, and that the rest of the district was one where 'development of houses of a good type [was] shortly to be looked for'. (fn. 206) Little progress was made in building, however, but the planners of 1911 suggested that Myton Road, the east side of the Banbury road, and both sides of Whitnash Road almost to the junction with the Tachbrook road might be suitable for residential development. (fn. 207) Building in Myton Road, now a secondary link between Warwick and Leamington, has progressed since the Second World War. Three secondary schools have been erected since 1950, together with a number of houses. (fn. 208) An area known as 'land at Myton', between Myton Road and the river, opposite St. Nicholas Park, is owned by the corporation and used as a picnic ground. (fn. 209)

South of Myton is the district known as Heathcote, like Myton the site of a deserted settlement. (fn. 210) The field names of 'Township', 'Little Township', 'Great Township', and 'Township Meadow' on the 1788 map, suggest that the village may have been south-east of the Asps by the Tach Brook, just outside the borough boundary. (fn. 211) The land between Heathcote Road and the borough boundary formed part of the Castle estate together with Heathcote Farm. The only exception was the area now occupied by the Royal Leamington Spa Sewage Works (1927). North of this is the Heathcote Isolation Hospital, built on land given by the Earl of Warwick in 1886 after the earlier site had been rejected. (fn. 212) Heathcote Farm has a two-storied red brick house; its principal front, facing south, has 'Gothic' windows of the early 19th century. Lower Heathcote Farmhouse, also in brick, of two stories, is of the late 18th century.

Before the building of the new bridge over the Avon in 1790 and the consequent realignment of the Banbury road, the three roads from the south and east of the town converged at the southern end of the old bridge in the suburb of Bridge End. These three streets were known at the end of the 16th century as Milne (now Southam) Street, Warytree Street (now Gallows Street or Gallows Lane), and Crosse Street. (fn. 213) Among the properties belonging to the Castle estate in Milne Street was a cottage and croft in the tenure of William Wooster, on which a fulling mill was built, a croft called 'Truboddies', and a barn known as the 'Earl's Barn'. (fn. 214) Hollar's plan (fn. 215) of 1654 shows a cross where the streets converged, and a gatehouse over Crosse Street at the end of the built-up area. To the west Hollar marks the chapel of St. Helena, which seems to have been the Temple chapel. (fn. 216) It appears as a simple rectangular building, not orientated. Further south are more extensive buildings, probably the remains of Temple Farm. The gradual encroachment of the Castle Park between 1744 and 1768, (fn. 217) the realignment of the Banbury road and the subsequent disappearance of Crosse Street made the Bridge End suburb a quiet backwater which it has since remained. Southam Street and Gallows Street include a number of small, mostly 17th-century timber-framed houses, many with later brickwork infilling. Nos. 33-35 (Little Brome and Brome House) form the most important house, a twostoried building with gabled attics dating from the early 17th century. It has a three-room layout with central stack and central lobby entrance. Another contemporary bay at the west end originally formed a carriageway at ground floor level. The gabled attics project out on carved brackets with grotesque masks. Below the overhang of each bay are oriel windows supported by shaped brackets. The framing is of medium-spaced studs with alternating heavy and light timbers. No. 31 (Brome's Place) is a long, low, open-framed range parallel with the street, now of two stories with later dormer gables, which has at its eastern end a further framed structure, formerly a barn. The house itself has a 16th-century rear wing but the street range may have been partly single-storied and built earlier in the same century.

The first half of the 17th century is again well represented. The long two-storied range of formerly thatched framed houses in Southam Street (Nos. 18-24 even numbers) was constructed c. 1600. It originally formed three dwellings, later further divided. The framing of large panels is now filled with brick. Cottages to the west, also framed, were later completely refaced in brick, a process which continued until Victorian times (Nos. 63 and 65). Other framed buildings of the early 17th century include Nos. 37-39, originally forming a small, twostoried house of two bays, with central stack and lobby entrance, with large panels and straight braces. This particular plan type in the west midlands persists as late as the third quarter of the 17th century.

There are a few brick and stone houses in the area, including Castle Park House, facing the park, of the early 18th century. The south-western front, formerly of red brick with stone quoins, is now covered by 19th-century stucco. Slightly earlier is No. 52, Southam Street, of c. 1700. Apart from 'The Templars' and its associated buildings of c. 1907 there was little later development until the 1960s when the area began to be privately developed with high-standard houses.