ST. THOMAS'S PARISH.
This parish developed
quickly after the foundation of New Salisbury, for
its position on level ground on the direct route from
the cathedral to Old Salisbury made it better suited
for a market place and town centre than the higher
land near St. Martin's church. The parish as defined
in 1269 included in the north the houses on the
west side of Castle Street as far as the line of Scots
Lane. The boundary then ran diagonally across the
Market Place from Blue Boar Corner to the corner
of the modern Queen Street and Milford Street,
along part of the latter, down part of Brown Street
and back along St. Ann Street to the Close wall.
On the south and west it was bounded by the Close
and the Avon. (fn. 1)
The two main parallel routes crossing this parish
and that of St. Edmund from south to north were
at first known as Minster Street and High Street.
The former followed the most direct way from the
cathedral to Old Salisbury and included the whole
of the present High Street, Minster Street, and
Castle Street. The High Street included the way
along Drakehall Street (said in 1396 to be part of
the High Street), (fn. 2) the present St. John's Street,
Catherine Street, Queen Street, and Endless Street
(said in 1348 to be part of the High Street). (fn. 3) It
appears that the High Street was intended to be the
chief thoroughfare through the city in the 13th
century, especially after the building of the bridge
to Harnham at its south end. (fn. 4) The fact that parts
of it acquired other names in the 14th century, while
the description High Street was transferred to the
present street of that name, suggests a shifting of
the city centre westward toward the direct line
between St. Thomas's church and the cathedral.
The changes in the nomenclature of both these main
routes were well established by the 15th century. (fn. 5)
The present High Street, leading from the North
Gate of the Close to the churchyard of St. Thomas,
was laid out when the cathedral was built, and still
has 14th- and 15th-century work in many of its
houses, although many have been much altered
since the 18th century, especially by the addition of
shop fronts. The corner of High Street and New
Street is called Mitre Corner and is traditionally
said to be the site of a house built by Bishop Poore
as a temporary residence while the cathedral was
being built. In later centuries the house was part
of an inn called successively 'The Lamb' (1455),
'The Holy Lamb' (1620) and 'The Sun and Lamb'
(1649, 1742). (fn. 6) The custom of the bishop robing
here for his enthronement and then being conducted
to the cathedral by the dean and chapter was established by 1451, and is still maintained. (fn. 7) The present
building on the site (no. 37) is a tall gable-ended
house with overhanging second floor, much altered
in the 18th century. The Old George Hotel in the
present High Street was the most important of the
city's medieval inns; the present half-timbered
building includes parts which date from the 14th
century. In that century it belonged to the family
of Teynturer, of whom William the elder and
William the younger both held the office of mayor.
The name of the inn may have been connected with
the activities of the guild of St. George, to which
William Teynturer the younger left property in
1376. (fn. 8) After the deaths of his widow and her second
husband the inn was purchased by the mayor and
commonalty in 1414. It was then called 'Georges
Ynne' and comprised laundry houses, chambers,
solars, cellars, and shops. Later in the century its
thirteen guest chambers each had a distinguishing
name. (fn. 9) Samuel Pepys stayed there for two nights
in 1668. (fn. 10) Its size caused it to be used also for other
purposes: from about 1590 to 1624 the Free School
was held in a room here; on the removal of the school
the commonalty ordered that all players, who had
resorted to various inns, were to confine their plays
to the George Inn, 'the size and form of the inner
courtyard being well adapted for that purpose'. (fn. 11)
The importance of this short street is shown by the
number of other medieval inns built here. On the
site of Woolworth's store stood buildings which in
the first years of the city belonged to William
Pinnock and his son Richard, who represented
Salisbury in the Parliament of 1295. From the 14th
century the property was known as Pinnock's Inn,
and later, after it had been given to the commonalty,
'The Helm'. In 1491 the commonalty had it demolished and built four shops with dwelling houses in
its place. (fn. 12) To the north of this stood 'Countewelle's
Inn', at one time owned by Geoffrey of Warminster,
mayor in 1335. (fn. 13) To its south, on the site of the
present nos. 42–44, was an inn called Tarent's,
which had changed its name to 'The Angel' by 1455.
It was still so called in the 18th century, and in 1751
was the inn from which the Bath coaches started.
In 1761 the landlord went bankrupt, and the building was let for use as a dwelling-house and timberyard. (fn. 14) The Crown Hotel (nos. 46–48) stands on the
site of a 15th-century inn called 'The Rose', which
became the Rose and Crown in the 17th century. (fn. 15)
Silver Street, where the road from the Close turns
east to skirt St. Thomas's churchyard, was so named
by 1716. (fn. 16) It was called Old Poultry in 1424, and
Poultry Street alias Minster Street in 1549. (fn. 17) The
name Minster Street is now confined to that part of
the original way passing northwards east of the
churchyard to the north-west corner of the Market
Place. The houses on the north side of Silver Street
and the south end of the west side of Minster Street
back upon the churchyard, and, although some have
been much restored, still form one of the most
picturesque groups in the city. Most date from the
15th and 16th centuries, some with exposed timberframing and others tile-hung.
Castle Street, the northernmost part of the old
Minster Street, was so called by 1339. (fn. 18) By 1269 it
already included houses both within and without
the bars, for St. Edmund's parish was extended
outside the city ramparts to include them. (fn. 19) By the
18th century only slight extensions had taken place
northwards. A print of that period shows many
gabled houses in the street; (fn. 20) one group of timberframed houses, nos. 79–91, including the George
and Dragon Inn remains little altered. Otherwise
the street consists largely of 18th-century frontages,
some concealing older work, intermixed with more
modern commercial premises. Nos. 41–47 are a
group of large 18th-century houses; nos. 57–61 are
small timber-framed houses refronted then. Behind
no. 61 are workshops said to have been built for a
clothier in 1738, (fn. 21) and a long row of 18th-century
cottages called Ivy Place. The Post Office was moved
to the present building on the corner of Castle Street
and Chipper Lane in 1905. (fn. 22)
The part of the old High Street in St. Thomas's
parish was known in the later Middle Ages as Carter
or Carterne Street, probably meaning street of the
carters; it was later associated with St. Catherine
and so arose the name of the present Catherine
Street. (fn. 23) The southern part has been called St.
John's Street since the 18th century. (fn. 24) In Catherine
Street the frontages are chiefly of the 18th and 19th
centuries, some concealing older buildings; the east
side of St. John's Street has a notable group of
buildings including the half-timbered 'King's Arms'
and adjoining premises (nos. 3–7), and the late 18th-century 'White Hart', of cream brick with its projecting Ionic portico of three bays crowned by a
full-size figure of a hart.
Two streets cross the parish from east to west.
The most southerly, New Street, occurs in a 13th-century deed, (fn. 25) and was probably so-called in
contrast to the earlier St. Martin's Street. Until the
15th century the name applied to the whole length
of street from Crane Bridge to Payne's Hill. (fn. 26) The
western and eastern parts of New Street in St.
Thomas's parish subsequently took the names of
Crane Street and Ivy Street respectively, leaving the
original name to the street still so called. Crane
Street derives its name from a residence known as
'the Crane', which was held by John Lisle, knight,
in 1455. This stood on the site of nos. 91 and 93;
91 is a timber-framed building with two hipped
gables of the 18th century and, on the ground floor,
two large projecting bays with stone mullions. Nos.
93 and 97 are both brick houses of c. 1700. Nos.
95, 97 and 99 are used as the diocesan Church
House. No. 99 is the stone house built by the
Webb family in the 15th century. The history of
this property has been traced from four separate
holdings next to Crane bridge listed in the bishop's
rental of 1455. The main dwelling on the site was
owned successively by intermarriage by such notable
leading citizens as the wealthy Thomas Coke, mayor
in 1491, Thomas Chaffyn, mayor in 1547 and M.P.,
who reconstructed the dwelling house, and John
Bailey of Bishopsdown. From the Bailey family it
was bought in 1630 by Mervyn, Lord Audley, Earl
of Castlehaven. On his attainder and execution in
the following year the property was equally divided
between the bishop as lord of the manor, and the
earl's heir. In 1637 the city bought one moiety and
the bishop leased the other moiety to the city so that
the building could be used as a workhouse. The
block of buildings at the south was added in 1728;
the whole remained in use as a workhouse until 1879,
and was taken over for its present use in 1887. (fn. 27)
On the site between Church House and the Avon
stood the Close workhouse, demolished in 1847. (fn. 28)
New Street has at its eastern end a large Georgian
house with projecting porch room supported on
pillars. It was built by William Hussey c. 1751–58
and formerly called the Hall; (fn. 29) in 1960 it was used
as an annexe to the School of Art, which stands on
the south side of the street in a building of 1871 on
the site of the New Playhouse opened in 1771. (fn. 30)
The street also contains several medieval buildings,
including the timber-framed New Inn and the
adjoining 'Old House', with front wall of flint.
Eighteenth-century houses include nos. 31–35,
61–63 and 73–75. The name of Ivy Street may be
derived from the family of John Ivie, mayor in
1627. (fn. 31) Nearby stood Ivy Bridge, frequently
mentioned in the 15th century. (fn. 32)
The other street crossing the parish from east to
west is the New Canal, continuing the line of Milford Street as far as the High Street. During the
Middle Ages this way was reckoned part of
Winchester Street (now Milford Street), but houses
there were frequently described as 'on the ditch' or
'on the canal', because through it flowed one of the
city's main watercourses. (fn. 33) For example, in 1503,
Thomas Hussey the elder owned a house and garden
with twelve other tenements annexed 'on the trench
or ditch in the parish of St. Thomas'. (fn. 34) An alternative name for at least a part was Avinch Street,
used in 1613 and still in 1777, (fn. 35) but the name New
Canal was in use by 1751. (fn. 36) The houses date mostly
from the 18th century and have modern shop fronts
inserted. The Gaumont Cinema, built in 1931,
incorporates as its entrance the house of John Hall,
merchant, built between 1470 and 1483. Restorations of the hall by Pugin in 1834 have preserved the
fine timbered roof, the chimney-piece showing
Hall's arms and merchant's mark, and some stained
glass windows. (fn. 37) A new front, designed by F. Bath,
was added in 1881. (fn. 38) On the same side of the street
is a gabled timber-framed house of the 16th century
with carved barge boards (no. 49). Opposite is an
18th-century brick warehouse. At the south-west
end of the New Canal joining the High Street are
the Assembly Rooms founded in the 19th century
as the 'City Assembly Rooms and Literary Institute'
on the site of the 18th-century Fountain Tavern,
which had an assembly room of its own. It is thought
that a medieval inn called 'la Ryolle' once stood on
this corner. (fn. 39) The first city police station was
established in 1838 in a house on the north side of
the New Canal, and remained there until 1883. (fn. 40)