Details
WARE TOWN
TL3514SE HIGH STREET
829-1/9/113 (South side)
08/05/50 Nos.61, 61A, 61B AND 63
including doorway to No.59 (not
included)
(Formerly Listed as:
HIGH STREET
Nos.61A AND 61B)
(Formerly Listed as:
HIGH STREET
No.61
including doorway to No.59)
(Formerly Listed as:
HIGH STREET
No.63)
GV II*
Formerly known as: Nos.61 AND 63 HIGH STREET.
Complex of buildings including 2 former inn sites, with
interlocked subdivisions. The ground floor of No.61 contains a
carriageway at left, with mid C20 infilling to form the
entrance to the adjoining National Westminster Bank, No.59,
not of special interest and not included. The remainder of the
ground floor is now opened out as part of the pharmacy, No.61.
The first floor and attics above Nos 59 and 61, and the rear
outshoot of No.61 (listed as Nos 61A and 61B) are now
accessible from within No.63. Part early C15, with C17, C18
and C19 alterations. Timber-framed and plastered with old
tiled roofs.
EXTERIOR: 2 storeys with attics at rear. No.59 has roof ridge
parallel to street, Nos 61 and 63 have triple gables facing
street, with linking roof behind the twin gables of No.63.
Tall square red brick chimneystack, with oversailing course
and 4 pots behind No.61. No.59 has a jettied first floor with
three 2-light wood casement windows, an eaves cornice and
sprocketed eaves. Colourwashed plaster ground floor with C20
infilled carriageway at left, and at right a C19 canted bay
window with sashes with glazing bars, beneath. Nos 61 and 63
have a continuous jettied first floor faced with masonry-lined
stucco, carried on curved wooden brackets, and 2 triple-light
flush sash windows with glazing bars, and at right, one long
canted multi-pane triple sash window form an oriel. No.61, at
left of carriageway has C19 shopfront, altered early C20,
beneath jetty. Flanking timber pilasters with carved consoles,
recessed entrance with twin leaf glazed doors between display
windows, with arcaded heads modified to incorporate plate
glass, above terrazzo stallriser. At right, beyond
carriageway, ground floor has canted bay window, with sashes,
with glazing bars only in upper sashes, flanked either side by
blocked C17 6-light mullion and transom windows with ovolo
profiled members. Central carriageway with exposed
timber-framing above protective boarding. At left there are
twin ogee-headed blocked doorways; at right close studwork,
and a blocked rectangular headed door. 3 light mullion and
transom window over carriageway, with hipped old tiled roof,
with C20 casement attic dormer.
C17 rear outshoot to No.61, at right of carriageway, 2 storeys
with old tiled roofs, plastered timber-framed first floor,
colourwashed brick ground floor and C20 casement windows, with
canted bay window at right on ground floor. Southern range 2
storey and weatherboarded. Long C17 rear outshoot behind
No.63, at left, 2 storeys, with old tiled roofs with 2 box
dormers, close to the rear of the main frontage ranges, and a
tall slab-like red brick chimneystack, with oversailing
courses. Plaster over timber-framing, with irregularly spaced
casement, mullion and transom windows, with 2 flush-set sash
windows on ground floor to left of recessed entrance door to
No.63, which is immediately beyond the carriageway. Further
south is C19 yellow brick outshoot with Welsh slated roof,
linked to former maltings (not included).
INTERIORS retain many early features. No.61 has C15 2 bay
crown post roof over front range. First floor has upper part
of newel stair, at rear of front range, and C18 fire surrounds
with shouldered architraves. The left hand first floor room
contains a C18 bolection moulded fire surround and panelled
overmantel. The insertion of the shopfront and consequent
rebuilding of the ground floor involved the moving of the left
hand timber-framing of the carriageway which does not line
through with the first floor structure. The centre room,
partly over the carriageway arch (accessible as part of the
first floor of No.63) contains a late C14/early C15
timber-framed structure, with curved braces, and remains of a
central arch brace truss, with a heavily cambered tie-beam,
probably formerly carrying a crown post, which appears to have
been removed from the loft space above the ceiling.
The ground floor front room of No.63 contains an early C20
polished limestone Tudor-arched fireplace with Delft tile
inserts. The staircase, to the rear with access from the yard,
is of open well newel construction, 6 flights length, with
recessed panels and moulded caps, moulded handrails, and
barleysugar twist balusters. The room behind the panelled
staircase hall, within the outshoot, is panelled to the head
of door level, and has an early C18 fire surround with a bold
bolection moulding, and appears to have been a dining room.
The room behind, a former kitchen, has a 4-light early C17
window, with ovolo profile mullions, exposed internally.
On the first floor the principal front room has exposed
studwork revealed after panelling was sold for shipment to the
United States in 1920s. There is a barrel vaulted plaster
ceiling, with ornamental spandrels at either end. The front
spandrel contains Jacobean strapwork, and the date `1624' in
roundels, with ornamental birds, hares and fleur-de-lys in
silhouette. The rear spandrel, above the fireplace contains
strapwork, with 2 birds in silhouette, and a central roundel
with the initials `I H S' (Jesus Hominum Salvator) surmounted
by a fleur-de-lys (Hertfordshire Archaeology vol 8, p.157).
The roof structure above was altered to accommodate the
plaster vault, but appears originally to have been of the
crown post type. The room is known as The Chapel, and was
possibly entered by a stair in the right-hand front corner,
leading from a central ground floor door, removed when the
canted bay window was installed.
HISTORICAL NOTE: No.63 was recorded as The Royal Oak Inn in
1664: No.59 as The Cross Keys and Ram Inn in 1599: No.61 as
The Coach and Horses Inn in 1723. No.61 existed as a tavern
until 1843, when it became a pharmacy, and the present
shopfront was inserted. Thomas Docwra owned No.63 in the C18,
and operated a malting at the rear.
Nos 61A & 61B were first listed on 14/03/74.
(Hunt EM: The History of Ware: Hertford: 1986-1946: 101; Royal
Commission on Historical Monuments (England): An Inventory of
the Historical Monuments in Hertfordshire: London: 1910-:
229-30; Smith JT: Hertfordshire Houses. Selective Inventory:
London: 1993-: 198; Perman D: Ware UD. List of buildings of
special arch or historic interest: 1993-: 31-2; Ware 25" to 1
Mile. Surveyed by the Ordnance Survey Department: 1851-; The
Victoria History of the County of Hertford: London: 1912-:
381; Forrester H: Timber Framed Buildings in Hertford and
Ware: Hitchin: 1964-: 35-7; East Herts Archaeological Society
Transactions: Andrews HC: Notes on 63 High Street, Ware:
Hitchin: 1908-: 269-71; Hertfordshire Archaeology: Puloy M:
Decorative Plasterwork in Hertfordshire: St Albans & Hertford:
1980-1982: 157 & PL XIX, XX; Moodey GE: East Hertfordshire
Archaeological Society Newsletter: Hertford: 1965-).
Listing NGR: TL3575814314
