Group of chimneys, Vicars' Close, Wells, Somerset. BA5 2UJ. - Unique Chimneys and Chimney Pots on Waymarking.com

The houses, all Grade I listed, were built as homes for the priests serving the cathedral as the Vicars Choral, their duty being to chant divine service eight times a day. There were originally 42 houses each some 20ft by 13ft (6.1m by 4.0m) in plan with two storeys each with a fireplace in the front wall built along two sides of a street to the north of St.Andrew Street, north of Wells Cathedral. The fireplaces led to a two-flue stack which were heightened in the C15th possibly when coal was introduced as fuel instead of wood. About the same time the requirement for celibacy amongst priests came to an end, at the Reformation, and some of the adjacent houses were knocked into one to permit family use, some had rear extensions, and the gardens were added to the front of the properties. Lead piping was installed, by 1468, to bring water to the houses, the supply was originally from two wells one at each end of the close and these continued to function until the C19th. Number 22 is the one house which still has most of its original medieval structure as it was originally built.

The date of some of the buildings is unclear but it is known that some had been built by 1363 and the rest were completed by 1412. There were originally 42 houses each for one vicar, however in a charter of c.1582 Queen Elizabeth restricted the number of vicars to twenty, and the Vicars Choral currently number twelve men.

Many of the original windows were replaced in the 18th century and Shrewsbury House, towards the 'top left', is architecturally different to all the other buildings having been re-built in the 19th century after a fire that burnt down the original structure.

The stacks themselves spring from a small buttress on the the front walls of the properties and interrupt the eaves line. There is a sloping drip course above the existing slate roofs showing the original line of thatching. The lower sections are square above the roof line and these translate to octagonal shafts which carry open fretted caps. (No.16 has no caps). On the street face of the lower sections are two heraldic shields, one each above and below the eaves line, above those of the Bishop, and below the arms of his various executors; including sugar loaves for Hugh Sugar, three swans for Richard Swan, and the talbot for John Pope.

For a full discussion of the buildings in Vicars' Close see the Listed Buildings pages at:- Vicars' Close 1-13 for houses on the east side.

..and:- Vicars' Close 14-27 for houses on the west side.

Private or Public Property?: Private What material is it made from?: Stone Estimated Height of chimney (please include whether metres or feet): 2.5m Type of building e.g. house, hotel etc: houses How do you rate it?: Website with further information: [Web Link] When was it made?: Not listed

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