| Description | 73, 73A and 73B, Northgate. Wakefield. Timber framed hall originating in the 16th century. Now demolished.
'B. Donaghey reports that members of the Y.A.S. Medieval Section recorded, before demolition, a complex of buildings constituting the properties 73, 73A and 73B Northgate, and 3 4 Strafford Square.
The surviving middle portion of an H shaped hall (c.1500 AD) and a 17th century building had been joined by an 18th century building to form an overall F shaped complex, of brick except for the stone façade of the hall. Ground plans and a recording of the unusual 18th century roof structure was obtained. The report was stored with the Yorkshire Archaeology Society'.
(Thorp, F. (compiler). 1974. 'The Yorkshire Archaeological Register: 1973'. The Yorkshire Archaeological Journal. Vol.46. Page 149).
WYAAS archives holds a number of items relating an assessment of 73, 73A and 73B, Northgate undertaken in 1972 by B.S Donaghey, Sheffield University as an emergency response to record the building prior to demolition. These include copies of two reports by B.S Donaghey relating to the historic architectural features, interpretive floor plan sketches, diagrams of roof structures and photocopies of photographic prints produced by the archaeological assessment. The reports are summarised below:
The properties consisted of four buildings with additions. Taking adjoining buildings into consideration, the building sequence would appear to be:
1. Late medieval stone hall recorded in 1967 and now partly demolished.
2. A 16th century stone cross wing.
3. A separate 17th century brick building, parallel to the cross wing.
4. An 18th century long brick building, constructed in two phases, linking the 16th and 17th century building at right angles. An outshut between the 16th and 17th century buildings on the 'half court yard side' might by 18th or early 9th century.
At the time of survey, access was limited, the light was poor and the building's fixtures and many fittings had been removed. Most of the historic features identified were 18th century in date these included panelling partitions, balustrading and roof timbers. In the part of the roof recorded, being of brick construction with load bearing walls, the roof system consisted of four cross beams (perhaps resting on and fastened into a wall plate) at irregularly spaced intervals between the gable end and the wall of the higher 18th century block, where the roof pitched changed and trusses above consisting of principal rafters with a plain king post and inclined braces. Other parts of the roof could not be examined. Only a plan of the ground floor of No.4 Strattford Street, consisting of part of the 17th century wing and the 18th century corner, could be made and this did not include measurements.
To enhance the report, Donaghey refers to a survey under taken of the adjoining late medieval stone building [77 Northgate] undertaken by Ken Bartlett (Wakefield Archaeological Research Group) in1967 (see PRN 12992 for further information). In 1970 the Yorkshire Bank demolished the rear end of this building. A central late medieval trusses was identified before being bricked in. On the corner of Northgate, when the Bank dug out their vault at the rear of their new premises there was evidence of a large circular pit running obliquely across the cutting; perhaps a disused quarry. It was filled with rubble and pottery dating to the 1680s. Excavations carried out by Bartlett with the Yorkshire Bank's co operation also disclosed a medieval oven within the site of the 16th century cross wing. No trace of an earlier building was found, leading to the conclusion that the oven might have been separate. Though it is possible that an earlier building occupied the site which was superseded by the stone medieval hall, eventually to be replaced by the 16th century wing. |