The Antiquities Of Wells, Somersetshire.

THE ANTIQUITIES OF WELLS , SOMERSETSHIRE .

The following paper ivas read at the recent meeting of the Somerset Archcelogical Society by Mr . J . H . Parker -. — I have been requested , said the reader , to complete tlie architectural history of the City of Wells , which I left in some degree incomplete last year ; but there remain noiv little besides mere . 'leanings of the rich harvest . I have alreadtold yon that I

y consider AVells as one of the most interesting cities Ave have remaining anywhere , from the unusually complete series of Itsediawal buildings belonging to its ancient cathedral establishment . I beliei'e there is not such a complete collection any where else ; and the cathedral would lose more than half its interest if deprived of these adjuncts . I would strongly urge upon the inhabitants of . Wells and of the county of Somerset the importance of preserving this series of buildings as

comp lete as possible . If they are not patriotic enough to appreciate them for their artistic and historical value , they may , perhaps , he more open to the consideration of money value ; aud I am much mistaken if they do not find , in a very short time , the number of visitors AA'IIO are attracted by the unusual interest of their city is large enough to become a valuable consideration , especially noiv that it has the advantage of railway communication ivith the rest ofthe world . I have reason to believe that

the interest taken in our Mediaeval buildings by all classes , high and low , has increased in a very extraordinary manner , within the last two or three years especially , and I may mention one or two facts in proof of this . Only last week I was informed , on good authority , that the number of visitors to see Westminster Abbey has been not less than a thousand a day during a great part of the present season ; and on ono particular day upwards of three thousand persons paid their sixpences to the fabric fund

for seeing the royal tombs and chapels . During the same period the number of visitors to see Windsor Castle , on the days on AA-liich the public are admitted , which are five days in the week , has been upwards of twelve hundred a day . Of the interest taken in the subject hy the higher classes I can myself hear witness ; for I am overwhelmed with invitations from the highest nobility and gentry in the land to explain to them the history of their castles , or houses , or abbeys , or churches . The

hundreds ivho attend the numerous architectural meetings testify to the same fact . I am also engaged upon the architectural history of Windsor Castle for her Majesty , who expresses great personal interest in the subject . Kor are our neighbours across the Channel one whit behind us in the interest taken in the subject . The French Government , which reflects the opinions of the majority of the French nation far more faithfully than some of our friends are willing to allow

, expend large sums every year in the preservation and restoration of their historical monuments , and in the formation of museums of antiquities . I am sorry to find that the people of this county , AA'hich is one of the richest districts in Europe injhistorical monuments , are rather behind the world in their appreciation of them ; and that during the last year one of the old Canons' houses in Wells , ' with a fine hall of the fifteenth century , has been wantonl

y destroyed under the name of improvement ; and that the Organist ' s house , another of the series , AA'hich has first been almost by neglect and by the stupid alterations of the last century , is now threatened with entire destruction for the purpose of opening a A'I OAV , one of the usual excuses of ignorance . I do not know Avho the parties are who are at the bottom of this spirit of destruction , and I do not ivish to inquire ; but I could almost be answerable that some old man or old woman of

sevent y is the prime mover of it . I have always found it so everywhere ; and , the obstinacy of old age being added to the usual obstinacy of ignorance , it is generally quite impossible to move it or make any impression upon ifc ; the only chance is that some younger men may overrule Mm ; and we must endeavour < -o bring public opinion to bear upon all such cases . The last generation was entirely ignorant of the value of any medieeval 'miklings . The history of England itself was little studied

very ° r understood in their youth , and they could not understand at ah these great landmarks of history . But in the present day , when every girl in hei- teens , who has had ii decent education , is ashamed of her ignorance if she does not understand something about them , and is generally willing enough to shoiv her OAVII ^ noAvled ge by laughing at the ignorance of others ; and when every educated man points the finger of scorn at those AA'I IO would

destroy any historical monument ; it is only necessary to expose such attempts , and not alloiv the mischief to be done in a corner . But it is time that I came to my immediate subject—tho mecliajval buildings of Wells . The cathedral has been sufficiently done hy others ; the Bishop's Palace I described last year . I also gai'o a slight account of the Deanery , the Archdeaconry the Vicar's Close , and the old houses of the canons and officers of the cathedral ; hut these , I think , will bear a little further

elucidation . The Deanery is said to haA'e been built by Dean Gunthorpe ( 1472—H-9 S ); and , though a good deal spoiled by modern sash windows and other alterations , it is still nearly a perfect specimen of a gentleman ' s house of the fifteen century , and has its own gate-house and Avail of enclosure . The principal apartments were all on the first floor , ivhich was a very common arrangement in Mediawal housesthe ground rooms heing commonl

, y cellars and storehouses ; for the state of the country , the want of roads , the scarcity of shops , and the bad supply of the markets , made it necessary to keep a much larger quantity of provisions in store than is called for in these days . The saltinghouse , the bakehouse , the breiA-house , the spicery , and many other similar apartments , ivere quite necessary in a large house ; and the whole of the ground-floor AA-as frequently occupied in that manner . In the Deanerythe principal apartment Avas in

, the garden front , or hack of the house , on the first floor , aud is a valuable example of the transition from the earlier Mediawal hall , with its lofty roof , and the more comfortable dining-room of later days . At the upper end ifc has the beautiful bay wincloiv for the sideboard at the end ofthe dais ; and at the lower end the music gallery , which is of stone , carried on a Avide arch , with the stone staircase to it at one end—an unusual arrangement ; and under the arch is the lavatoryfor the guests to

, wash their hands before going into tho hall , as this was behind the screen which crossed the entrance . But , instead of a lofty open roof , it had a flat panelled ceiling . The approach to this hall was by an external staircase at the corner of the house , of which the neiA-el-post remains ; and the doorway to it may be seen in tho Avail , Avith the marks of the pent-house OA'er it . The present staircase was originally for the servants only , leading straight doivn to the kitchen and offices , which were on the

ground floor . Behind the dais at the upper end of the hall is the solar , or lord's chamber , known as Henry the Seventh ' s , because that monarch is said to have slept there on his visit to Wells . The house has formed three sides of a quadrangle , with a curtain wall across tho fourth side or front , towards the principal court and the gate-house . It has octagonal turrets at the corners , apparently more for ornament than for defence . The Archdeaconry appears to have been a house of at least

equal importance Avith the Deanery ; in fact , the hall of it is larger and more imposing ; and , in this instance , it occupied the Avhole height of the building from the ground to the roof . The house Avas originally built in the time of Edward I ., as is shown hy the windows in the gable at the east end , and one of the doorAvays near to this end , AA'hich has a fine suite of mouldings on the exterior , and a foliated arch Avithin . This was the back door to the servants' court ; the front door towards

the Close Avas larger aud more important ; hut only a part of the foliated inner arch can IIOAV be traced iu fche wall , the front of the house having been entirely modernized . The Hall occupied about two-thirds of this part of the house , and still retains a very fine open-timber roof of the early part of the fifteenth century , probably of the time of Bishop Bubwith , as it agrees with the roof of the hall and chapel of his almshouse . In the east wall of the archdeacon ' s hall are the three doonvays

of the buttery , pantry , and kitchen , as usual , showing that the offices were at the east end of the house , hut have been destroyed . At tho further end of the house , beyond the dais , it was divided into two stories—the cellar , or store-room , or parlor beloiA-, and the solar , or lord ' s chamber , or withdraAvingroom , above : this solar is itself a room of considerable size . The whole of the arrangements indicate that the archdeacon was a person of considerable importance , and able to exercise

hospitallifcy on a grand scale ; or the house may have been a sort of residentiary , where the Chapter exercised their * hospitality as a body , like the guest's hall , recently destroyed at Worcester . The house of tho choir master , at the east end of the cathedral , is a small gentlemen ' s house of the fifteenth century , tolerably perfect , with the roof and the upper part of the windoAvs of the hall remaining , bufc disguised and concealed by modern partitions . The porch , with the room over ifc , remains