32 Friarn Street Bridgwater Somerset TA6 3LH
An Ancient House
The Developmental History of the Building
Listing particulars
32 Friarn Street has been listed Grade II, reference ST2936NE 736-1/11/82 and 16/12/74. The description is given as follows:
House. Early C18. Painted Flemish-bond brick, pantile roof with a brick stack to the left. Double-depth plan, with gable facing and at right-angles to street. 2 storeys with attic; 2-window range. Windows have shallow segmental arches and forward frames to 6/6-pane sashes. The full-width forward-facing gable has a full-size attic window, now painted over, between platbands, a platband between the first and ground floors, and a right-of-centre door has an overlight of 3 panes. INTERIOR not inspected.The description identifies the principal features of the front elevation accurately, and the suggested date is consistent. There are some curious discrepancies between the description and the appearance in 1999 when purchased. 19th and 20th century pictures all show the elevation to have been plastered, with no brickwork revealed. A poor quality cement-render (the current finish) was applied possibly as late as 1990. Where this has begun to fail, the brickwork underneath shows no sign of a paint finish. The bottom 3ft of the wall is of lias limestone, poorly coursed, with some red Wembdon sandstone random blocks. The ground floor sashes are 6/6-pane, but the first floor has three (now four) 8/8-pane sashes, with simple lamb's tongue astragals.