CASE

STUDY

The strange case of Jacob’s Well, in which an ancient

building sheds a storey to preserve its history

To restore, so various editions of The

Oxford Dictionary tell us; means “to bring

back to the original form”. But with an old

building which has taken many forms dur-

ing its long life, it can be very hard some-

times to judge exactly what this implies.

Jacob’s Well, one of the most important

15th century houses in York, is just such a

building.

Jacob’s Well officially opened to the

public last Autumn after nearly a decade of

closure, having been brought back, quite

literally, from the brink of collapse, large-

ly thanks to the daring and dogged efforts

of Peter Marshall Architects and restora-

tion specialists, William Anelay Ltd of

York. Bringing this about, however, has

not been an easy task.

The fine, timber-framed building was

originally built to house the Chantry

priest of Holy Trinity Priory, Micklegate,

which continues to own and administer it

as a church hail. In the 18th and 19th cen-

turies, however, it did time as a pub trad-

ing under the name Jacob’s Well, and in

1815 a brick second storey was thrown up

on top of the original structure.

The original oak frame proved sturdy

enough to stand up to the weight of the

many tonnes of extra bricks which it had

never been meant to support, but by the

beginning of this century, when a minor

refurbishment was undertaken in conjunc-

tion with the restoration of Holy Trinity

Prior, the upper storey was visibly leaning

forward over Trinity Lane below. At the

same time, the floor of the first story was

bowing at the centre and sagging at the

sides, with the load from the additional

brick not actually being transferred to

ground level. It was simply resting on the

overhanging butts of the timbers compris-

ing the top of the old wooden frame and

was a full 9 inches out of plumb.

Under the direction of English Her-

itage, tests were undertaken to determine

whether or not the timber frame was still

subsiding under the stress of the added

JACOB’S WELL, YORK

brick. Pairs of small metal studs were sunk

into either side of several joints all around

the frame. The distance between the studs

in each pair was then measured monthly

over a period of nearly two years. In the

end it was found that at least the frame had

done all the sagging it was going to do and

would not suddenly collapse of its own

accord.

Still, action had to be taken, and two

possible courses were open. Either the

lower half of the building could be rein-

forced with so much structural steel work

that its original Tudor character would be

virtually lost, or the upper half could be

removed and replaced by a reconstruction

of the orginal Tudor roof. It seemed like a

straightforward choice — renovation or

restoration.

However, the approval of 13 different

conservation and amenities bodies, in

addition to that of York City Council, was

required in order to go ahead with either

plan. Certainly, the Tudor bottom half of

the building was of great historic signifi-

cance, but were not the Georgian additions

also of Grade I listed status along with the

rest?

After almost three years of negotiation,

involving SPAB and The Georgian Group,

consent was obtained for the more radical

of the two options. The integrity of the

Tudor building would be restored at the

expense of the Georgian additions. Follow-

ing the award of a £15,000 grant from

English Heritage, The Jacob’s Well

Appeal was set up under the patronage of

the Archbishop of York to cover the

remaining costs amounting to roughly

£100,000.

As specialists in restoration who had

worked on numerous other important his-

toric buildings in and around York,

William Anelay Ltd were chosen to under-

take the work on grounds of both cost and

capability. After the Georgian roof and

second storey had been carefully removed

while supporting and protecting the

building with a veritable forest of scaffold-

ing, the oak frame’s more fragile joints and

beams were reinforced with thin steel

strapping, while also renewing the most

damage and decayed timbers.

By looking at the peg holes and joint

slots at the top of the frame, Anelay’s join-

ers, with help from the architects and

English Heritage, were able to reconstruct

the basic design of the 15th century roof.

It had been of ‘crown and post’ construc-

tion, gabled to the North, and pitched at

about 550; its successor would follow the

same plan.

The roof had to be built to match all the

anomalies of the frame beneath, which had

never been too square in the first place and

had now sagged and twisted under its

great weight of years and extra brick such

that it was a couple of feet wider and high-

er at one end than at the other.

Above:Jaeobs Well prier to restoration showing the 19th

century roof and upper storey looking somewhat cumbersome

atop the 15th century lower storeys.

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CONTEXT 33