The story of 21 Westgate Street – part two

John Steed
4 days ago
7 min read

Updated: 3 days ago

[Photo: John Steed, 2025] Sign Painting by Dawn

(Part one of the story of 21 Westgate Street is available on the Gloucester Contemporary Artists website: https://www.gloucestercontemporaryartists.art/post/the-story-of-21-westgate-street-part-one)

The Gate - a not-for-profit enterprise run by artists for artists

We have called our art space, at 21 Westgate Street, the Gate after the vision Gloucester Contemporary Artists has presented for a major art resource in the city. That ambition remains,and is some way off – in the meantime we have No 21 – from little acorns, mighty oaks…

Clad in 20^th century fake timber-framing, the building facing onto Westgate Street has now revealed its secrets in a comprehensive report, published in 2023, by Rebecca Lane, Senior Architectural Investigator (South West Region) at Historic England. Our use of No 21 as an art space is the latest page in a long history of the site stretching back two millennia.

A closer look at No 21 Westgate Street

The 15th-century timber-framed building that faces the street has seen much alteration over the centuries. When first built it had four separate commercial units (with two shops on either side of a central passage leading to the courtyard beyond. The Gate occupies the most western of the two surviving bays.

The timber-framed building behind the Gate (known as the west range) was a separate structure (the north wall of the west range was built against the south wall of the street-front range but not integrated in any way.

As well as the eastern bays having been demolished and replaced, most of the framing of the front (north) wall has been lost. The west wall of No. 21 also appears to have been totally rebuilt when No. 23 was heavily reconstructed in the 19th century.

The shop to the east of the Gate (No. 19A) is now slightly smaller at ground-floor level than that to the No. 21, as it incorporates the western side of the passageway through to the rear courtyard; originally the passageway was slightly further to the east.

Inside No.21

Much of the original timber-framed building has been lost, but there is still much to see.

Fifteenth century post and beam in the frame that separated Nos 21 and 19A. ]Photo: John Steed, 2026]

Some of the original fifteenth century timber frame is still visible inside. The building was originally just one bay deep (and was only about half as deep as the shop is today). You can see a rear post from the frame between 21 and 19A, and there is also an original beam running north from this post to the front of the building. Look closely, and you will find a large mortice hole is just visible on the northern side of the post immediately below the cross beam. The position of the mortice suggests that it is for a large down brace. There is also an original post in what would have been in the centre of the frame These posts provide evidence of the partition dividing No. 21 from the shop next door.

The original ground-floor wall line is identifiable from the surviving jetty plate, which has been cut off to the wall line. [Photo: John Steed, 2026]

Originally the building facing the street would have been double-jettied, meaning that the first floor would have projected over the street and the second floor projected still further. In the early 19th century, in an attempt to modernise the look of the ancient building, it was given a flat brick front elevation. At the street end ,the shop window is in-line with the original first-floor jetty, and the second floor jetty has been cut back. This is typical of the type of updating of earlier timber-framed buildings that was going on in Gloucester, and elsewhere, in this period, where the old fashioned jettied façade was replaced with something more fashionable. It was obviously much cheaper to just replace the façade rather than the whole building. Both 19a and 21 were given large windows fronting the street at first- and second-floor levels as part of this phase. Those in No. 21 survive.

The original ground-floor wall line is identifiable from the surviving jetty plate which has been cut off to the wall line but is still visible – see photograph above.

Most likely at the same time as the replacement of the façade, a brick chimney stack was built that provided fireplaces to the upper rooms of both 19A and 21. It may also have provided a fireplace at ground-floor level for 19A but not for the shop at 21.

We know that in 1887, No. 21 was a restaurant, and there was a door connecting to the timber-famed building behind (the West Range). It is not known when the two rooms became the space it is today. The enlargement of the premises into the building behind accounts for the step up to a slightly higher floor level. At last, after 400 years or so, the enlargement of the shop allowed for a fireplace to be inserted into a sixteenth chimney at the end of the enlarged space.

Shops in the fifteenth century

In No 21, there is evidence of the original ground-floor arrangement. There is a large timber beam in the ceiling running laterally across the shop. The mortices and stave holes in the beam suggest that the ground-floor was subdivided, with a shallow shop area at the front and a small private room to the rear. There is also evidence that this back room may have had a separate access via a corridor running along the eastern side of the bay. If this was the case it might echo the ground-floor arrangements surviving in the Merchant ‘s House, Abbey Lawn Cottages, Tewkesbury. This is a restored early 15th-century houses where the shop and domestic accommodation was accessed from a doorway leading to a corridor to the left hand of the unit. Customers would not have entered the shop space; instead they would look into the shop from the street. The jettied upper storey would have offered some protection for the shop counter and customers from the weather.

The beam across the ceiling of No 21 showing evidence of the partition. [Photo: John Steed, 2026]

A corridor arrangement along the eastern side of the bay would have allowed access to the small room behind the shop, which could have had a workshop or storage function. Alternatively it may have served as a domestic space, the equivalent of an entrance hall with stairs in the south-east corner to provided access to first- and second-floor levels where the principal domestic spaces must have been (one room on each floor), although of course this accommodation was adaptable and could have been used for storage or other purposes as well.

The restored fifteenth century Merchant’s House at Abbey Lawn Cottages, Tewkesbury. Note the timber shop shutters and door to the lefthand side. [Photo: John Steed, 2026]

The surviving original floor joists at first-floor level indicate there was no provision for an open hearth at ground-floor level. This lack of original heating is not uncommon in buildings of the period.

At the Fleece all four units originally forming part of the street-front range backed onto other buildings, rather than their own yards. There could be no provision for a rear window, meaning that the ground-floor rear rooms must have had limited or no natural light. This must have meant that they did not represent particularly desirable domestic or workshop spaces and may only have had a role as storage.

Traces of 18th-century decoration

Traces of 18th century geometric pattern surviving on the ceiling at No.21. [Photo: John Steed, 2026]

Look up as you enter No 21 and you will see traces of an 18th century geometric pattern surviving on the ceiling of both parts of the bay (north and south of the cross beam which indicated the original partition line). Its presence on both sides of the crossbeam probably indicates that by this date the shop and the room to its rear had been opened up to form a single, larger commercial space. The ceiling pattern comprises a series of black and white triangles. This has been compared to other examples known to have been painted in the 18th century, although these are of a much higher status. The survival of such a scheme in this type of premises is extremely rare.

Imagine…

The future of the Fleece complex of buildings is uncertain as it awaits redevelopment.

Enough of the original buildings remain, that taken with the examples of local buildings of the period, and the detailed research undertaken, one could imagine a full reconstruction of the late fifteenth century building. The site itself is large, offering the possibility of a sensitive commercial redevelopent at the rear and living history at the front. What a statement of belief in Gloucester, in its future translated through its history, that would be – a landmark restoration that would bring visitors from far and wide to our historic city.

Your work will look great at the Gate

Works by Gilly Hill, Ben Broadbent, Debs Harrison and Pete Garrard in the exhibition Heat and Dust, March 2023 at the Gate (Photo: John Steed)

The Gate is an not-for-profit, flexible and affordable place for art - a great place to get your work seen (and sold). The Gate is available for hire by artists and craftspeople.

The Gate at 21 Westgate Street, Gloucester is a space with possibilities of use beyond the display of finished artworks (gallery) including storytelling, music, poetry, artist residencies and workshops. You can contact GCA about your ideas on contact@gloucestercontemporaryartists.art