| Site Name: |
Medieval town, Wells |
| Civil Parish: |
Wells |
| Comprises: | | PRN 11341 | Excavation (c 1995 - ), Wells Museum |
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| | PRN 11630 | Evaluation (2000), 52-54 High St, Wells |
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| | PRN 11633 | Evaluation (2001), 2 Priest Row, Wells |
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| | PRN 11648 | Watching Brief (2001), Saddler Street, Wells |
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| | PRN 15084 | Watching brief (2001), New Street, Wells |
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| | PRN 15086 | Evaluation (2001), Market Place Hotel, Wells |
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| | PRN 15091 | Evaluation (2001), 54-58 St Thomas Street, Wells |
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| | PRN 15543 | Excavation (1988), Clares Carlton, Wells |
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| | PRN 15544 | Watching brief (1988), Cathedral Green, Wells |
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| | PRN 15620 | Watching brief (2002), High Street, Wells |
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| | PRN 15753 | Watching brief (1993), Market Place, Wells |
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| | PRN 16091 | Evaluation (2002) 54-58 Thomas Street, Wells |
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| | PRN 16206 | 'Pumping machine' and waterwheel, The Bishops Palace Garden, Wells |
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| | PRN 16265 | Evaluation (2003), 66 High Street, Wells |
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| | PRN 16323 | Evaluation (2003), 22 Chamberlain Street, Wells |
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| | PRN 16421 | Evaluation (1995), the Old Archdeaconry, Wells |
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| | PRN 16663 | Watching brief (2003), 12 Sadler Street, Wells |
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| | PRN 16667 | Evaluation (2003), 54 and 56 Southover, Wells |
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| | PRN 16955 | Evaluation (2004), 48 North Road, Wells |
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| | PRN 17702 | Watching Brief (2005), City Arms, High Street, Wells |
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| | PRN 17784 | Evaluation (2005), Clares Factory Site, Southover, Wells |
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| | PRN 18784 | Watching Brief (1994), St Joseph and St Teresa School, Lover's Walk, Wells |
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| | PRN 25613 | Evaluation (1987), Clares Carlton, Wells |
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| | PRN 25624 | Evaluation (1992), new science building, Cathedral School, Wells |
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| | PRN 27004 | Manners Lane tenements and mansion, Chamberlain Street, Wells |
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| | PRN 28116 | Evaluation (2008), Old Laundry Garden, College Road, Wells |
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| | PRN 28148 | Watching brief (2008), former GPO sorting office, Priory Mills, Wells |
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| | PRN 28240 | Watching brief (2009), Wells Cathedral, Wells |
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| | PRN 28241 | Watching brief (2008), 5 High Street, Wells |
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| | PRN 28280 | Watching brief (2007), 66 High Street, Wells |
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| | PRN 28293 | Watching brief (2004), Clares Factory site, Wells |
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| | PRN 28558 | Watching brief (1997), 71-73 St Thomas Street, Wells |
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| | PRN 30277 | Watching brief (2011), 4 Vicars' Close, Wells |
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| | PRN 30284 | Evaluation (2010), land behind 9 and 11 St John's Street, Wells |
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| | PRN 31601 | Evaluation (2012), Whiting Way, Wells |
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| | PRN 31699 | Watching brief (2011), former Wells Cadet Centre, Webbs Close, Wells |
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| | PRN 32047 | Watching brief (2005), boreholes, Mary Mitchell Garden and Masons' Yard, Wells Cathedral |
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| | PRN 57062 | Watching brief (1995), Mermaid Inn, Tucker Street, Wells |
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| | PRN 57123 | Watching brief (1998), 54 High Street, Wells |
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| | PRN 57200 | Watching brief (1999), 35 High Street, Wells |
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| Grid Ref: |
ST 54 45 (ST 54 NW) ST 55 45 (ST 54 NE) |
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As far as we are aware this site is no longer visible. Please assume that this site is private property and do not visit without permission. [Information last updated on 03 January 2003]
Domesday Book makes no reference to a town or market at Wells and the absence of one in early Norman times probably explains the transference of the see to Bath. A reference in 1136 mentions a market which was confirmed in a grant in 1160 of three markets. The establishment of the town therefore coincided with the church regaining cathedral status. Additional charters of Bishop Reginald (1169-91) extended the town's rights. Another charter of 1201 confirmed these rights and outlined the boundaries of the town. The town prospered from the C13 and was the largest town in the County in the C14. In 1298 two burgesses represented the town at Parliament. The 1327 Lay Subsidy listed 64 of the taxable inhabitants. A document of 1437 listed the inhabitants as including masons, hostlers, carpenters, weavers, tailors, goldsmiths etc. The town's prosperity came from the cloth industry and the cathedral. The relationship between the two was often uneasy as for example when Bishop Ralph obtained permission to wall off the precinct in 1340 and in 1493 when the town opened new mills without the bishop's permission Total independence for the borough came after the Reformation with a charter granted by Elizabeth I in 1589. In the C16-C17 the cloth industry moved elsewhere, but the town retained its important market focus. In the C19 its cheese market was the largest in the west of England Savaric's charter (1192-1205) details the bounds of the borough which are described in Aston and Leech. It excludes the Liberty (PRN 16420) and the suburb E of the cathedral and it is probable that some of the places listed on the S boundary are in the wrong order The central part of the town was probably planned with regular burgage plots along Sadler Street, High Street as far as Mill Street, Union Street, St Cuthbert's Street (N side) as far as the church, Priest Row (E side) and Chamberlain Street as far as St Cuthbert's. Back lanes were provided for those in Chamberlain Street and High Street, the lane behind the latter following St Andrew's stream. St Cuthbert's church was at the W end of this planned area. The alignments of the streets are roughly the same as that of the possible earlier church excavated in 1894. Tucker Street and St Thomas' Street, formerly Byestewalle, may have developed later as suburbs. A number of streets close to the cathedral were possibly altered from 1340 onwards as a result of Bishop Ralph's licence to divert streets. Before 1340 Milton Lane may have continued S across the present Cathedral Green, through Beckington's "new works" and along the W side of the moat. It is also possible that the present alignments of Tor Street, East Liberty, North Liberty and St Andrews Street may date from 1340 In 1341 the burgesses received the right to "enclose and fortify" the town but after prolonged litigation it was withdrawn. The town has a complex system of water supply. A key development is an agreement in 1451 to build conduits and channels along the main streets which details the routes to be followed and how the channels were to be constructed. An entry of 1459 provides further details of how the water supply was to pass from the churchyard of the cathedral into the market place By the C15 the main market area of the town was the High Street and the present Market Place. Documents, including the conveyance of land for building the "new works" in 1451, provide a detailed picture of the area. {1}
Wells had a minster church C700, cathedral status in 909 and the first town charter in c1160. The modern town plan was established by the later Middle Ages and comprised three elemnts, the Liberty of St Andrew around the cathedral, the borough to the west and north and to the east a subhurb known as Byestwalles. {5}