History of The Piggeries

The Accommodation

History of The Piggeries

The Piggeries is a Grade II* listed building. It is all that remains of the great hall of a medieval house, within the gift of the Bishop, which according to the Cathedral records was “utterly ruined in the time of the . . . civill warres”. (c. 1640).

The door in the garden

There is believed to have been a house on the site in the 12th Century, before the present cathedral. Surviving records go back to the 15th Century, when it was lived in by the Treasurer of the Cathedral, Canon Hugh Sugar. His crest (a shield with three cakes of sugar) adorns the houses in Vicars’ Close opposite. After his death in 1489 money was left in his Will to build a chantry chapel in the Cathedral.

Noone knows how the house became dilapidated during the Civil War. There is no evidence of damage by military action, though it may just have been neglect of maintenance in those troubled times.

The house has an interesting history of distinguished clerical occupants, including a Chancellor, a Precentor and two Cathedral Treasurers. More recently it was given to the Archdeacon of Bath, and only purchased, and renovated, by the present owners in 1989.

Rustic charm in Wells

with a tranquil setting,

Garden relaxation with Wells cathedral next door

and Wells cathedral next door!