Robert Raikes' House is an historic 16th century

timber-framed Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large woode ...

town house at 36–38

Southgate Street Southgate Street is one of the ancient streets in the City of Gloucester, so named because its southern end was originally the location of the south gate in the city's walls. The part beyond the gate as far as Severn Street was sometimes known as ...

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east o ...

. It is now used as a

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and wa ...

called the Robert Raikes Inn.

History

Robert Raikes' House was built for use as a merchant's house in 1560. In the early 18th century the rear of the house was extended and internal alterations were carried out.

Robert Raikes the Elder Robert Raikes the Elder (baptised 22 April 1690 – 7 September 1757) was a British printer and newspaper proprietor. He is noted as a pioneer of the press who was instrumental in bringing printing out of London and to the provinces. Biogra ...

started publishing the Gloucester Journal from the building on 9 April 1722.

Robert Raikes Robert Raikes ("the Younger") (14 September 1736 – 5 April 1811) was an English philanthropist and Anglican layman. He was educated at The Crypt School Gloucester. He was noted for his promotion of Sunday schools. Family Raikes was born at ...

, the Younger moved his printing business into the house in 1758 where he continued to publish the Gloucester Journal. In 1772, he moved into the house to live with his family. Robert Raikes was a promoter of the Sunday school movement, he held Sunday school sessions in the house's garden and Robert's wife used to serve

plum cake Plum cake refers to a wide range of cakes usually made with dried fruits such as currants, raisins, sultanas, or prunes, and also sometimes with fresh fruits. There is a wide range of popular plum cakes and puddings. Since the meaning of the ...

to the children. After his death, it was again used as a merchant's house and shop. There were minor alterations made to the building throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. In 1952, the building was

grade II* listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

. In 1973, the Dirty Duck restaurant opened on the site later becoming the Golden Cross public house in 1975. In 2006, Samuel Smiths bought the building and spent £4.5 million on its restoration. As part of this restoration, the shop front was replaced by more traditional wood-framed walls, also the Malt and Hops pub in the rear courtyard was demolished. It reopened in November 2008 as a public house.

Architecture

Robert Raikes' House is primarily made of a timber-frame with

wattle and daub Wattle and daub is a composite building method used for making walls and buildings, in which a woven lattice of wooden strips called wattle is daubed with a sticky material usually made of some combination of wet soil, clay, sand, animal dung a ...

panels. It has a slate double purling roof and is additionally supported by two brick stacks with octagonal shafts. The front of the building has three timber-framed

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aest ...

s. In the 18th-century, a parallel range and cross wing with a raised

cruck A cruck or crook frame is a curved timber, one of a pair, which support the roof of a building, historically used in England and Wales. This type of timber framing consists of long, generally naturally curved, timber members that lean inwards and ...

roof was built in brick at the rear of the building. The building has three storeys, which are jettied, and includes an attic and a cellar. The first floor jetty is supported by

console Console may refer to: Computing and video games * System console, a physical device to operate a computer ** Virtual console, a user interface for multiple computer consoles on one device ** Command-line interface, a method of interacting with ...

s, the second and attic floors are supported by curved knee braces. At the front of the building on the ground floor are large windows with glazing bars between the supporting timber posts, which were added in the early 19th-century. The style of the top two floors is typical of west country decorative timber framing. On these floors each of the three bays under the gables is split into three further sections by supporting timber posts and each of these is split again into three more horizontal sections. Each of which are decorated with patterns made of timber. The gables have scalloped and pierced barge boards decorated with spike

finial A finial (from '' la, finis'', end) or hip-knob is an element marking the top or end of some object, often formed to be a decorative feature. In architecture, it is a small decorative device, employed to emphasize the apex of a dome, spire, towe ...

s. The doorway is on the right hand side of the second bay. The interior of the building consists of seven rooms, with the rooms at the back of the building being more lavishly decorated than the rooms at the front. The ground floor is mostly open as it is used as a public house bar. It has exposed ceiling beams and joists which are supported by wooden posts. In the centre of the building is an 18th-century open well staircase with quarter landings, the walls are decorated with

dado rail A dado rail, also known as a chair rail or surbase, is a type of moulding fixed horizontally to the wall around the perimeter of a room. The dado rail is traditionally part of the dado or wainscot and, although the purpose of the dado is main ...

s and half height wooden panels. The first floor landing has a two bay timber screen with arches on each side. There is a bedroom with full height panelling and this level also has 16th-century exposed timber framing in several walls. In the 18th century, a stone chimney with an

architrave In classical architecture, an architrave (; from it, architrave "chief beam", also called an epistyle; from Greek ἐπίστυλον ''epistylon'' "door frame") is the lintel or beam that rests on the capitals of columns. The term can a ...

surround was added this is also present in the rooms on the upper floors. There is a second circular staircase on the north side of the building. The cellar consists of brick walls with brick barrel vaults. Throughout the building are a mix of paintings, technical drawings of the building itself and a biography of Robert Raikes. At the rear of the building is a large courtyard.

References

{{Buildings and structures in Gloucester History of Gloucester 1560 establishments in England Grade II* listed buildings in Gloucestershire Pubs in Gloucester Tudor architecture Grade II* listed houses