Details
TF4509 WISBECH HILL STREET
(North Side)
1113/6/57 No.29
(The Conservative Club)
31.10.1983
GV II*
Former guildhall, used principally as a grammar school 1549-1898, now a political club. Hall range c1379, ceiled-in and probably refenestrated C18, roof structure mostly renewed during remodelling, 1808. West wing 1549 or 1585, refitted C19. Extended on north side 1651 or 1716. South porch probably C18. Alterations C19 and mid and late C20.
C20 roughcast conceals main structural materials. Hall range may he stone. Porch, east gable and west gable stack, brick. Roofs C19 Welsh slate.
Hall range, single storey, 3 bays. West wing, 2 storeys plus attics, single bay. Porch 2 storeys, single bay. L-plan.
Hall range has 3 round headed windows with leaded glazing, with impost blocks and keystones. 3 similar windows on the north side are covered by a late C20 addition, and converted to doorways. East end has a crowstepped gable, probably C18. Dormers were installed in 1808, and removed probably early C20.
West wing has a renewed 8/8 sash, with a late C20 glazing bar casement above. Attic has a gabled dormer, reglazed late C20. Northern extension has on the east side a wood mullioned window. Porch has coped gable with kneelers, ball finials, and central cross. Segment headed rebated doorway with double doors, and renewed 6/6 sash above.
Interior: Cross passage has two C19 doors to west, and C18 round headed double door into hall to east. Segment headed doors in central partition and at north end.
Hall has 5 late C14 carved corbels, and C18 ceiling with aerial and cross beams. West wall has close studding and braces, and incorporates a crenellated beam. This is believed to have supported a
Gallery. Roof structure renewed 1808 except for the filled west truss. The attic room beyond this at the west end of the main range has a large stone fireplace, probably C17, and here the medieval roof survives.
West rear wing has C16 moulded ceiling beams to the ground floor, and a roof of A-frame trusses and a single crown post roof truss.
This building is of considerable architectural and historic interest incorporating significant parts of a late C14 secular building and subsequently becoming Wisbech's town hall and grammar school after the Dissolution until the C19, with alterations and additions reflecting these uses.
Sources:
K Morrison RCHM report, July 1995.
M Devenish The Old Grammar School, in Wisbech Society Annual Report, 1994.
FJ Gardiner History of Wisbech and Neighbourhood (etc), 1898
AW Poyser History of Wisbech Grammar School, 1909
AV Poyser The Old School (in) The Wisbechian, 1948
N Walker & T Craddock History of Wisbech and the Fens, 1849
TS Watson & T Craddock History of Wishech, 1833
W Watson An Historical Account of Wishech, 1827
HL White History of Wisbech Grammar School, 1935 (or 1939)
VCH Cambridge & Isle of Ely, vols. ii & iv
Bibliography
4978 The Buildings of England, Cambridgeshire (Nikolaus Pevsner), 1970, Page(s) 498
4978 An Historical Account of the Ancient Town and Port of Wishech
(W Watson), 1827, Page(s) 421
4979 Historv of Wisbech and Neighbourhood (FJ Gardiner), 1898,
Page(s) 232-4
Listing NGR: TF4622409756
