WELL STREET TQ 7552 LOOSE (East Side) 6/208 The Wool House (formerly listed 25.7.52 as The Old Wool House, Wool House Cottage) and Garden wall to north and east GV II* House, or pair of houses, probably associated with the wool trade. Wool House Cottage mid C16, with later rear wing. The Wool House early C17. Both restored in 1920's. Timber framed, with plaster infilling. Ground floor of The Wool House rendered. Plain tile roof. Wool House Cottage built at right-angles to road, facing north, with later rear return wing to west side. The Wool House was added to the front of the right (west) end bay of the Cottage, running north from it and facing east away from the road. Until about 1940, and possibly originally, the buildings intercommunicated. WOOL HOUSE COTTAGE: lobby entry plan of 3 timber-framed bays, including narrow central stack bay. Rear return wing 2½ timber-framed bays. Main range 2 storeys and attic, wing 2 storeys. Stone plinth. Right side (Well Street) elevation: close-studding of thin scantling. Gunstock jowls and tension braces to broad gable end of main range. Roof of main range half-hipped to road, with gablet. Wing gabled to south, with lower ridge. Gable end stack to wing. Irregular fenestration of 3 small casements; one 2-light to gable end of main range, one 2-light to left bay of wing and one 3-light to right. Half-glazed door to left bay of wing. Wool House added to left (north), and set closer to street. North (former front) elevation: continuous jetty, obscured at west end by addition of The Wool House. Central brick ridge stack, with blocked doorway under. First floor pargetted. Interior: exposed framing. Rebated gunstock-jowled posts to rear wing. Mortices for 4-light diamond mullion first-floor south window, obscured by later rear wing. 2-light diamond mullion window to north side of stack bay. Chamfered stone fireplaces to ground floor, and another smaller to first floor. Stone fireplace to gable end of wing. Clasped purlin roof with diminishing principal rafters, and windbraces. Attic floor joists rebated for boards. C16 wall-painting of teazles to east ground- floor chimney breast. THE WOOL HOUSE: lobby entry plan of 4 timber-framed bays including narrow stack bay. 2 storeys and attic. Stone plinth, higher to Well Street side on account of slope. Close-studded, with dropped tie-beam. Rear (Wall Street) elevation: plain bargeboards to left gable end. Brick ridge stack in narrow second bay from left (north) end. Irregular fenestration of 3 leaded ovolo-moulded mullioned casements morticed for diamond subsidiary mullions; one 6-light to left (north) end bay, one 4-light to third (south-central) bay from left and one 5-light to south end bay. Blocked 3-light window under stack with 2-light ovolo-moulded mullion window below it. 5 small leaded casements to ground floor. Front (garden) elevation: irregular fenestration of 4 ovolo-moulded mullioned windows with diamond subsidiary mullions; one 10-light mullioned and transomed window to each of the 3 principal bays, south end bay with 2-light frieze windows and south-central and north end bays with 3-light frieze windows. 2-light ovolo-moulded mullion window beneath stack, with door to ground floor under. Interior: exposed framing of heavy scantling. Edge-halved scarf joints. Chamfered axial beam and bevelled joists to each end room on each floor. Ovolo-moulded axial beam to south-central room on each floor. 4 chamfered stone fireplaces to stack, each with wooden bressumer; carved chamfer-stops to south-central room on each floor, plain to north room on each floor. C20 stairs to west side of stack, probably in C17 position. Clasped purlin roof with windbraces, interrupted tie-beams, and vertical queen-struts to collars. Garden wall: roughly coursed ragstone. Runs north for about 3 metres from north- west corner of The Wool House, then turns east for about 40 metres. Diminishes in height from about 3½ to about 2 metres on account of slope. Included for group value. Property of the National Trust. (J.C.B. Statham, The Romance of a Tudor House, 1929). Listing NGR: TQ7558952092