Winchester St. Thomas Street
Nos. 21 - 25
Access to Nos. 21 and 22 is across the landscaped area of the old graveyard, and some of the tombstones are still visible following the demolition of St. Thomas's in 1845. John Gauntlett, Alderman of the City, was buried here in 1762 and his wife Mary in 1770. Five of their seventeen children were also buried in the grounds of St. Thomas's Church. These two houses of the late 17th and 18th centuries are in grey brick with red dressings, having tile roofs above the usual two storey arrangement of sash windows.
The off street car parking problem for the house owners is again evident, as part of the stone boundary wall and iron railings were removed in 1983 to allow space for two cars within the garden.
No.23 was the property of St. John's Charity from the mid 16th century to 1971 when the Charity Commissioners allowed the sale to the present occupiers.
Prior to that date the tenants had been paying £40 a year rent for forty years, the adjoining house No. 23a now part garage being let to a corn merchant. An earlier occupant had been Henry Godwin, solicitor, with offices opposite, followed by Mrs. S. Hayward who had a forty years lease, from 1855, rented at £1.4s.2d.
This house has remarkable brick vaulted cellars in the area of Roman remains marked on the 1871 Ordnance Survey map. The spacious landscaped garden still retains the clearly defined contours of over a century ago.
The records of No.24 reach far back into the history of Winchester. There are references to this property before 1550 in which year Richard Burton, Mayor of Winchester 1559-1586, lived at this address. This building probably incorporated the present main block of No. 24, the Norman undercroft with rebuilt chamber above, and the building along the street frontage to the south which was demolished about 1812. The value of the property including stables and outhouses, part of the east side of the street, was £435 in 1574. The house passed to William, son of Richard Burton and later, in 1604, it was owned by William Kirkbye, but by 1716 Matthew Inter, one time Mayor, had provided his son Thomas with this property.
In 1829 Mr. C. Woolridge had a lease from Stephen Hearne, who prior to 1861 had built a drawing room and linked the undercroft wing to the main house. He also had the freehold of the garden from St. John's Charity in 1897.
The undercroft as shown on the 1871 Ordnance Survey and detailed in the 1915 auction catalogue, is described as a groined vault with two bays, divided by a stone arch and measuring 27 feet by 17 feet. The room over the undercroft is reputably where Cromwell received the Keys of Winchester Castle in 1645. The nearby Southgate Hotel was one of the sites of Cromwell's guns when besieging the castle.
The acting solicitors at that date were C. Woolridge and Son of St. Peter's Street, the occupants from the 1880s onwards being the Misses Woolridge. A tithe of 17 shillings was due to the Rector of St. Thomas's Church and a fee of 1s 3d. payable to Winchester Corporation.
For many years No.24 was the residence of the Mayor of Winchester. Post medieval pottery was found, and is officially recorded in the City Museum, when in 1979 an outdoor pool was refurbished. It was at this time the south corner fronting the street was altered to provide a concrete arch and iron gates to the set back garages. The façade was repainted in a more acceptable colour, this being the only large house in St. Thomas Street with painted brickwork.
No.25 dating back to 1650, was the rectory for St. Thomas's and also for St. Maurice's Church, which used to be in the High Street before being demolished in 1957. The house is rather unusual in this street with slates instead of tiles and having full height three storey canted bays on either side of a panelled door with fanlight and bracketed hood. There is a plaque on this building recording its history. Dr. Richards was here in the late 19th century and the Reverends Dicker and Colchester from St. Maurice's were in the rectory at the start of the 20th century. For about fifty years, from the 1920s Savage and Weller estate agents, occupied these premises, Mr. Weller having links with St. Thomas's Church.