Monument Type(s):

• HOUSE (15th century to 17th century - 1400 AD to 1699 AD)

Summary

A 15th-17th century house, which is protected by Grade II* Listing.

Related records

Associated Finds: None recorded

Associated Events

• ESA6343 - 2001 DBA and site visit at Courtyard Cottage, Council House Court, Shrewsbury by Nigel Baker
• ESA6344 - 2002 WB at Courtyard Cottage, Council House Court, Shrewsbury by Nigel Baker

Description

Formerly known as: The Council House COUNCIL HOUSE COURTYARD. House, once forming part of Old Council House (qv), now a separate dwelling. C15-C17, altered C19. Coursed and squared sandstone rubble and brick with plain tiled roof. Ground floor is stone, with doorway to right and 2 sash windows with single ring cambered brick heads. Upper windows are 12-pane sashes with segmentally-arched heads. Axial stack. Includes part of hall of Old Council House (qv), subdivided during C19 <1>

In June 2001 a desk based assessment and site visit were undertaken prior to the construction of an extension to Courtyard Cottage. The ground floor rooms include longitudinal and transverse beams, heavily moulded, with hexagonal flat intersections designed to accommodate attached bosses, since removed. The longitudinal beams continue on into the Old Council House hall, which was partitioned in the early 19th century to form Courtyard Cottage. The latter includes possibly four bays, with two bays remaining as part of the Old Council House. Originally this hall may have consisted of either a ground floor hall with a flat ceiling and a council chamber above open to the roof, or as a first floor hall and a substantial room below. The ceiling of the ground floor hall of the Old Council House shows how this would have originally appeared in Courtyard Cottage. The Courtyard Cottage is likely to have been the 'high' end of the hall, and could possibly have incorporated a dais. In addition a blocked doorway with a depressed four-centred arch of 15th-16th century date is apparent on the first floor, and above, at attic level, is a fine decorative moulded plaster wall surface. The west wall is almost entirely early 19th century and appears to have been reconstructed when the hall was subdivided. This appears to have been rebuilt in a single phase and resulted in possibly seven mullioned windows being reduced to five and a substantial two storey canted bay or oriel window being removed from the south end of the building, though no trace of these are apparent in the external masonry. Despite this internal facing masonry, at least in the south end of the wall, was possibly left in situ. The east wall was also probably rebuilt in the 19th century and is consistent with a reconstruction of the 13th century town wall which once occupied this position (PRN 62531). Therefore the sandstone walls may be earlier than the timber components of the hall. <2><3>

Following the submission of the 2001 appraisal [<2> ESA6343] detailed submissions were lodged in objection to central conclusion that the courtyard cottage west elevation had been rebuilt in the early 19th century (not seen by SMR compiler <5>) . A post script [<3>] and a letter of correspondence [<4>] contains Nigel Baker's response to the objections. <3><4>

In October 2001 a watching brief was undertaken during the widening of an opening in the west wall Courtyard Cottage prior to an extension. The masonry appears to be of medieval origin, with banker’s marks identified on stones above the present doorway. A variety of different tooling techniques and different degrees of weathering suggests the stones came from various sources. It is however consistently coursed, with no evidence of insertion or removal of components. A service trench was excavated perpendicular to the wall face, and at its base a wall footing was observed c.0.8m from the west elevation on a diagonal line to the elevation, consistent with the location of the canted bay window. A cross section of the west wall fabric revealed brickwork faced on the outside with sandstone masonry, set in hard pale grey white mortar consistent with a 18th to 20th century date, and makes up the entire west wall. At the south end irregularities in the interior face and the embedded remnants of the ceiling beam above do however indicate probable medieval fabric in that area. In the base of the inserted door way the wall and its core contained only sandstone and it is presumed that from that level down to its footings the medieval wall survives intact. <3>

Sources

Search results generated by the HBSMR Gateway from exeGesIS SDM Ltd.