No
25 - Old Cider House
The Old Cider House
Built in the early 1900s, but clearly influenced by the Georgian style, with symmetry of fenestration and central door with arched fanlight above. It is dominated by the brick facade with ground floor bay windows, which originally had traditional slate roof tops.
The brickwork was presumably from the Bridgwater brick works production, and main slate roof, probably welsh slate rather than the Cornish slate which was first shipped up to Watchet. Slate took over from the local manufactured tiles for several later buildings.
So, it has a natural material on the roof and a manufactured material for the walls, which is the opposite of many other buildings in Castle street which have natural stone walls with manufactured tile roofs.
I suspect this is in fact the 'new' old cider house replacing a previous one? The old maps of the area show that Stowey was surrounded by orchards, so presumably cider was an important product in Stowey for hundreds of years. There would have been apple storage buildings as well as cider making facilities.
A map of the late 1800s shows the previous building as divided into two, so perhaps the cider house and adjoining accommodation, although the old photos only seem to show the single doorway?
The current building has a large side access to the rear with timber doors, where there has been further building; whereas the earlier building does not appear to have had the rear access.
There is also this photo in which it appears there is a hole in the roof, possibly after a fire. I wonder if this is when it was decided to demolish the old and build the new.
The next photo shows the plot as a building site after the demolition of the earlier one - presumably around 1909-1910. There is a newly built brick gable wall against what was then the adjoining Globe inn. This is unusual, to build the full height gable wall before the rest of the building, but perhaps it was required in order to protect the newly exposed gable of the Globe before the rest of the building was built.
The photo shows the new wall with keying at the front edge, ready for the front wall to be keyed safely into it later. The set back at the lower part is presumably because the ground floor front wall would need to be thicker in order to take the weight of that above including the end of the lintel over the bay window opening, so more weight concentrated on a short length of wall.
When the current building was built, the two bay windows had a typical pitched slate roof top to them. But it would seem that it was only 10-15 years later that the windows were changed with new stonework and a castellated top - (because it is in 'Castle' street perhaps?) - The next photo shows these new windows with gleaming light, clean stonework; sadly, over the last hundred years the weather has since discoloured the stonework, particularly at the top and the sills.
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This page is still under review, please come back to see future additions.
....
Reportedly
built around 1910, this is another impressive building in the
central section of Castle street.
Built in the early 1900s, but clearly influenced by the Georgian style, with symmetry of fenestration and central door with arched fanlight above. It is dominated by the brick facade with ground floor bay windows, which originally had traditional slate roof tops.
The brickwork was presumably from the Bridgwater brick works production, and main slate roof, probably welsh slate rather than the Cornish slate which was first shipped up to Watchet. Slate took over from the local manufactured tiles for several later buildings.
So, it has a natural material on the roof and a manufactured material for the walls, which is the opposite of many other buildings in Castle street which have natural stone walls with manufactured tile roofs.
I suspect this is in fact the 'new' old cider house replacing a previous one? The old maps of the area show that Stowey was surrounded by orchards, so presumably cider was an important product in Stowey for hundreds of years. There would have been apple storage buildings as well as cider making facilities.
Late 1890s map showing two
sections - 1895 previous building with porch
A map of the late 1800s shows the previous building as divided into two, so perhaps the cider house and adjoining accommodation, although the old photos only seem to show the single doorway?
The current building has a large side access to the rear with timber doors, where there has been further building; whereas the earlier building does not appear to have had the rear access.
There is also this photo in which it appears there is a hole in the roof, possibly after a fire. I wonder if this is when it was decided to demolish the old and build the new.
The next photo shows the plot as a building site after the demolition of the earlier one - presumably around 1909-1910. There is a newly built brick gable wall against what was then the adjoining Globe inn. This is unusual, to build the full height gable wall before the rest of the building, but perhaps it was required in order to protect the newly exposed gable of the Globe before the rest of the building was built.
The photo shows the new wall with keying at the front edge, ready for the front wall to be keyed safely into it later. The set back at the lower part is presumably because the ground floor front wall would need to be thicker in order to take the weight of that above including the end of the lintel over the bay window opening, so more weight concentrated on a short length of wall.
When the current building was built, the two bay windows had a typical pitched slate roof top to them. But it would seem that it was only 10-15 years later that the windows were changed with new stonework and a castellated top - (because it is in 'Castle' street perhaps?) - The next photo shows these new windows with gleaming light, clean stonework; sadly, over the last hundred years the weather has since discoloured the stonework, particularly at the top and the sills.
This page is still under review, please come back to see future additions.
....