Fore Street, Chard

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Coordinates: 50°52′21″N 2°57′51″W / 50.87250°N 2.96417°W / 50.87250; -2.96417
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Fore Street
Street scene showing shops, cars and a set of traffic lights.
LocationChard, Somerset, England
Coordinates50°52′21″N 2°57′51″W / 50.87250°N 2.96417°W / 50.87250; -2.96417
BuiltLate 16th and early 17th century
Listed Building – Grade I
Official nameWaterloo House and Manor Court House
Designated24 March 1975[1]
Reference no.1197449
Fore Street, Chard is located in Somerset
Fore Street, Chard
Location of Fore Street in Somerset

Fore Street [2] in Chard, Somerset, England was built in the late 16th and early 17th century, following a fire which destroyed much of the town in 1577.[3][4]

Fore Street is a main shopping street and thoroughfare with open water channels on either side.[5] Local folklore claims that one stream eventually flows into the Bristol Channel and the other reaches the English Channel.[6] This situation changed when the tributary of the Axe was diverted into the Isle; the gutter in Holyrood Street, though, still flows into the River Axe and therefore it is still true it lies on the watershed and that two gutters eventually drain into the Bristol Channel and the English Channel.[7]

Numbers 7A,7B,9,11,13 & 13A Waterloo House and Manor Court House have been designated as Grade I listed buildings.[1] They are now on the Heritage at Risk Register.[8] The Hamstone Waterloo House and Manor Court House were built in the late 16th or early 17th century.[9] The history of the buildings is complex and not fully understood, although it is known that it was used as a court house at various periods. Worries about the condition of the buildings, and others in the row from 7 to 13 Fore Street, and the need for their preservation. has been expressed throughout the 20th century.[10]

In 2010 when the Manor Court House, where Charles I signed a peace declaration during the English Civil War, was added to the Heritage at Risk Register one local trader complained that not enough was being done to maintain and conserve the building.[11][12][13] Waterloo Court was built in the 16th century as a house, it has since been converted into a shop with a flat above it.[14]

The Guildhall

In 1834 the Guildhall was built with a doric portico with a double row of Tuscan columns along the front. It was built to replace an earlier 16th century guildhall and now serves as the town hall.[15]

public house.[17][18]
It houses collections of exhibits about local history and displays related to the lives of notable local residents.

The L-shaped school building was built in 1583 as a private house and converted into

Chard Grammar School in 1671. It was damaged in the fire if 1727. It is a Grade II* listed building.[19] In 1890 it became a boarding school and then in 1972 a preparatory school. Monmouth House, which was built between 1770 and 1790,[20] and the 16th century chapel,[21] are also now part of the school.[22]

Pubs include the Dolphin Inn, which was built in 1840 and the George Hotel which was constructed in the late 18th century.[23][24] The Wesleyan Methodist Chapel was built in 1895 from Flemish bond brick.[25]

The branch of

National Westminster Bank was two houses when it was constructed around 1820.[27] In 1938 a bomb proof bunker was built behind the branch of the Westminster Bank. During World War II it was used to hold duplicate copies of the bank records in case its headquarters in London was destroyed. It was also used to store the emergency bank note supply of the Bank of England. There has also been speculation that the Crown Jewels were also stored there, however this has never been confirmed.[28]

Bronze sculptures by Neville Gabie

In 1991 the town council commissioned bronze sculpture from Neville Gabie which were erected in Fore Street they are entitled Ball and Whirl.[29] An album detailing the work and its commissioning is held by the Chard Museum.[30]

See also

  • List of Grade I listed buildings in South Somerset

References

  1. ^ a b "Nos.7A,7B,9,11,13 & 13A Waterloo House and Manor Court House Fore Street". historicengland.org.uk. English Heritage. Retrieved 11 July 2009.
  2. ^ "Fore Street" is a common street-name in the West Country.
  3. ISBN 0-906456-98-3
    .
  4. ISBN 1-874336-26-1
    .
  5. ^ "Chard Regeneration Framework Conservation Area Appraisal" (PDF). South Somerset Council. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 September 2016. Retrieved 25 September 2016.
  6. ^ "South Somerset's Market Towns" (PDF). Visit Somerset. Retrieved 16 September 2012.
  7. ISBN 978-0-7509-4057-3
    .
  8. ^ "Waterloo House and Manor Court House, 7A, 7B, 9, 11, 13 and 13A, Fore Street, Chard, Chard Town - South Somerset". Heritage at Risk. English Heritage. Archived from the original on 22 October 2013. Retrieved 19 October 2013.
  9. ^ "Waterloo House and Manor Court House". National Heritage List for England. Historic England. Retrieved 25 September 2016.
  10. ^ Keystone Historic Buildings Consultants. "7A-13 Fore Street, Chard Report for South Somerset District Council" (PDF). South Somerset District Council. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 October 2015. Retrieved 25 September 2016.
  11. ^ "Owner hits back at listed building claim". Somerset Live. 7 August 2010. Retrieved 25 September 2016.[permanent dead link]
  12. ^ "Retailer fights to raise awareness of Chard's hidden treasure - the Manor Court House". Chard and Ilminster News. 24 August 2010. Retrieved 25 September 2016.
  13. ^ Barton, Laura (25 October 2013). "Chard's historic buildings on at-risk register". This is the West Country. Retrieved 25 September 2016.
  14. ^ "Waterloo Court". National Heritage List for England. Historic England. Retrieved 25 September 2016.
  15. ^ "The Guildhall". National Heritage List for England. Historic England. Retrieved 25 September 2016.
  16. ^ "Chard Museum". historicengland.org.uk. English Heritage. Retrieved 23 May 2010.
  17. ^ "The Story of Chard Museum". Archived from the original on 15 February 2009. Retrieved 23 May 2010.
  18. ^ "Chard and district museum". South Somerset Council. Retrieved 23 May 2010.
  19. ^ "Chard School". National Heritage List for England. Historic England. Retrieved 25 September 2016.
  20. ^ "Monmouth House and attached walls and railings". National Heritage List for England. Historic England. Retrieved 25 September 2016.
  21. ^ "Chapel to east of Chard School". National Heritage List for England. Historic England. Retrieved 25 September 2016.
  22. ^ "History". Chard School. Retrieved 25 September 2016.
  23. ^ "The George Hotel". National Heritage List for England. Historic England. Retrieved 25 September 2016.
  24. ^ "Dolphin Inn". National Heritage List for England. Historic England. Retrieved 25 September 2016.
  25. ^ "Wesleyan Methodist Church and attached walls and railings". National Heritage List for England. Historic England. Retrieved 25 September 2016.
  26. ^ "Lloyds Bank". National Heritage List for England. Historic England. Retrieved 25 September 2016.
  27. ^ "National Westminster Bank". National Heritage List for England. Historic England. Retrieved 25 September 2016.
  28. ISBN 978-0-7509-4057-3
    .
  29. ^ "Modern Sculpture". Public Monuments and Sculpture Association. Archived from the original on 27 September 2016. Retrieved 25 September 2016.
  30. ^ "Sculpture project album gift given to Chard Museum". Chard and Ilminster News. 8 May 2011. Retrieved 25 September 2016.
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