Summary
Merchant’s house constructed during the C16 and altered in at least two phases during the C17 and C18. The building was refronted in the late C19 and extended in around 1933. In the 2010s the building was converted to flats.
History
The town of Leominster traces its origins to the establishment of a religious house there during the C7 or earlier. The Saxon settlement endured repeated Viking raids and is recorded as a sizeable town in the Domesday Book (1086), with 27 households. In the early-C12, King Henry I established a Benedictine Priory in the town and granted a foundation charter for the town’s market. The town thrived throughout the later medieval period, despite periodic unrest due to its location in the border region. Leominster wool was prized across Europe and bestowed considerable wealth upon the town. The town centre retains many medieval and early-modern buildings; secular buildings are timber framed while surviving Priory buildings are constructed of local sandstone. The town centre retains an essentially medieval street pattern, with long, narrow burgage plots fronting the north-south spine road of Broad Street-High Street-South Street, and Corn Square (the historic market place) lying to the east of the High Street. The remains of the Priory, dissolved in 1539, lie to the north-east of the town centre. The town remained a prominent local centre into the C18 and C19. During this period, many timber-framed buildings were replaced (or refronted) by brick buildings with Classical elevations. Many houses in the town centre were partially converted to commercial use and equipped with shopfronts during the later-C19 and C20.
At its core, Brook Hall is a C16, high-status, timber-framed house. The interior retains extensive exposed timber framing with high-quality decorations along with contemporary wall paintings, the majority of which are believed to remain hidden by later stud walls and partitions. The building has a large, open attic space likely to have been used for the storage of goods. This fact, combined with the building’s high-quality embellishments and location formerly overhanging the man-made medieval watercourse, the Pinsley Brook (now culverted), suggests that it was built as the home of a wealthy merchant.
The building was altered and extended on several occasions over the following centuries. The rear first-floor chamber retains a largely complete range of C17 fielded panelling and a contemporary fireplace. The interior also retains extensive evidence of a C18 refurbishment including plasterwork and joinery. The building was refronted in yellow brick around 1870-1880. In around 1933, a hall was added adjoining to the west and the building was converted to use as an evangelical church and associated offices.
By the late-C20 the building was in use as a nursery, possibly with additional community/public uses. In the early-C21 it was converted to use as a club and during the 2010s it was converted to flats.
Details
Merchant’s house constructed during the C16 and altered in at least two phases during the C17 and C18. The building was refronted in the late C19 and extended in around 1933. In the 2010s the building was converted to flats.
MATERIALS: the core of the building is timber-framed, which is rendered to the north elevation fronting Vicarage Street, with a yellow brick frontage onto Broad Street to the east. The rear, C20 extension is of red brick. The entire property is roofed in slate.
PLAN: the building is arranged in two principal ranges on an L-shaped plan, with the older, timber-framed range to the east fronting Broad Street and a brick-built, C20 range to the west running along the north plot boundary.
EXTERIOR: the principal, east range is of two storeys plus attic. The roof form comprises two north-south orientated gables intersecting an east-west orientated gable roof parallel with Vicarage Street, with two cross-wing gables to the east elevation.
The east (Broad Street) elevation is arranged across six bays in a formal, free Domestic Revival style. The southernmost and two northernmost bays project forward as cross-wings. A chamfered stone base runs across the entire elevation beneath the low cills of the ground-floor windows. The main entrance is situated within a gabled porch projecting forward of the cross-wings in the third bay in from the north. The porch contains a shouldered-arched doorway containing a six-panelled door with stained glass to the two uppermost panels, set within a round arch with a heavy keystone, cusping and moulded imposts with floral bases. The frieze of the round arch is inscribed with the letters 'BROOK HALL'. The gable roof above is supported on moulded timber brackets and has a moulded timber fascia. A second entrance is located in the southern cross-wing and comprises a half-glazed door with nine fixed panes, with a rectangular overlight above, set within a moulded surround with a flat-arched, stone lintel with an implied keystone, and a much-weathered stone hood above. The two recessed central bays and two bays of the northern cross-wing each carry a six-over-six glazed, timber sash window, set within a moulded surround matching that of the southern entrance, with weathered stone hoods and implied keystones. On the first floor, each bay carries a six-over-six glazed, timber sash windows within moulded surrounds matching those of the ground floor, although the three recessed bays do not have hoods. The six windows are unified by stone strings to their heads and cills. There is a centrally-placed, round-arched window on within the gable of the two cross-wings, each with similarly moulded surrounds to the lower windows and containing a three-over-three sash. The roof over the brick-fronted east elevation is supported on moulded timber brackets with moulded timber fascias matching those of the porch.
The north elevation of the older, east range, is arranged across three bays; the easternmost bay being as wide as the two western bays combined. The first floor is jettied with four, moulded timber, scroll brackets. Over the first-floor window of the easternmost bay is a jettied, gabled dormer. The ground floor carries two timber sash windows and a two-light casement with stained-glass, leaded lights in the westernmost bay. The sash window to the easternmost bay has six-over-six glazing and is set within an elaborately moulded surround, while the window to the central bay has two-over-two glazing and horns, and is set within a more simply-moulded surround. The first floor carries three timber sash windows set within moulded timber surrounds, the westernmost having two-over-two glazing and horns, and the two easternmost having six-over-six glazing. The gabled, jettied dormer contains a three-over-three glazed, timber sash window. A large, red-brick chimney stack rises through the ridge of the northern wing of the east range.
Attached to the western end of the northern, east-west orientated wing, is a single-storey, C20 range under a gable roof with two gable dormers to the each of the roof slopes. The ground floor carries a series of timber mullion and transom windows with stained-glass, leaded lights, under stone lintels, with each bay separated by a stepped brick buttress. There is a modern, timber doorway at the eastern end of the north elevation. At the western end of this range is a single-storey, flat-roofed outbuilding constructed of red brick, and an adjoining, single-storey, brick toilet block to the north.
INTERIOR: the building is understood to retain significant historic fabric from the C16, C17 and C18, including wall paintings, finely-carved, exposed timber framing, timber panelling and fine plasterwork.
SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: a tall boundary wall adjoins the north elevation of the C20 range running north-west. It is constructed of historic (perhaps C18) brickwork.
