Old Judges House

Old Judges House
"the finest and largest urban timber framed building in Britain"[ citation needed ]
Type	Former judges' lodgings, now commercial
Location	Westgate Street, Gloucester
Coordinates	51°51′58″N2°14′48″W / 51.866°N 2.2467°W / 51.866; -2.2467
Built	15th century, later additions
Architectural style(s)	Tudor
Owner	Privately owned
Listed Building – Grade I
Official name	Old Judges House
Designated	23 January 1952
Reference no.	1245450
Location of Old Judges House in Gloucester Central

The Old Judges House, 26 Westgate Street, is a former judges' lodgings building in Gloucester, England. It dates from the late 15th century when it was built as a house and shop. Extended and altered in each subsequent century, in the 19th it was the headquarters and shop for the Winfields seed company. In the 20th and 21st centuries it has housed a bookshop and an antiques centre. It is a Grade I listed building.

History

Westgate Street runs south-east to north-west through the city, to the south of the cathedral. It is "by far the longest and most important street of medieval Gloucester". ^[1] The Old Judges House stands at No. 26, with a narrow passageway, Maverdine Lane, to the right. David Verey and Alan Brooks, in their Gloucestershire 2 volume in the Pevsner Buildings of England series, revised and re-issued in 2002, describe it as "the most magnificent 16/17th timber-framed merchant's house remaining" in the city. ^[2] The building dates from the late-15th century when it was built as a combined shop and house. It was much enlarged and embellished in the late-16th/early-17th centuries. In the 18th, the façade onto Westgate street was refaced in stone. ^[a] In the early 19th century it was used as lodgings for judges on the Western Assize circuit. The quality of the building's accommodation generated some criticism; one judge referred to it as a "badly drained, ill-ventilated, foetid dog-hole". ^[4] In 1888 the building became the headquarters and shop of the Winfields seed company which undertook further alterations. ^[3] In the later 20th and 21st centuries, the building was used firstly as a bookshop and, since 2016, as an antiques centre. ^{[5] [6]}

Architecture and description

The street frontage is of four-storeys, faced with stone, and rendered. The Tudor frontage is of three-storeys with three bays, and has been tree-ring dated to 1586-1587. ^[2] Verey and Brooks describe the close studding decoration as "astonishingly rich". ^[2] The interior contains much original detail, including "rare, original patterned leaded glass". The Old Judges House is a Grade I listed building. ^[3]

Gallery

• 
  The Tudor frontage visible from Maverdine Lane
• 
  Another view

Notes

1. The architect John Chessell Buckler drew the original street frontage prior to its re-facing. ^[3]

References

1. Verey & Brooks 2002, p. 472.
2. Verey & Brooks 2002, pp. 473–476.
3. Historic England. "Old Judges House (Grade I) (1245450)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 20 April 2025.
4. Kirby, Darrel (1 March 2016). "An Unexpected Tour around Colonel Massie's House" . Retrieved 20 April 2025.
5. James, Paul (24 January 2016). "Gloucester's past is helping shape its future". thelocalanswer.co.uk. Retrieved 20 April 2025.
6. "Gloucester Antiques Centre". www.gloucesterantiquescentre.com. Retrieved 20 April 2025.

Sources

• Verey, David; Brooks, Alan (2002) [1970]. Gloucestershire 2: The Vale and the Forest of Dean. The Buildings of England. New Haven, US and London: Yale University Press. ISBN   978-0-300-09733-7. OCLC   249275468.