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THE GROTTO AT JORDANS NGR ST 3388 1601

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

Overview

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II*
List Entry Number:: 1057070
Date first listed:: 04-Feb-1958
List Entry Name:: THE GROTTO AT JORDANS NGR ST 3388 1601
Statutory Address:: THE GROTTO AT JORDANS NGR ST 3388 1601

User submitted image — Uploaded by Mary Chisholm This photo may not represent the current condition of the site
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Date:: 2005-05-05
Reference:: IOE01/14353/20
Rights:: © Mr Michael Perry. Source: Historic England Archive

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II*
List Entry Number:: 1057070
Date first listed:: 04-Feb-1958
Date of most recent amendment:: 13-Jun-2002
List Entry Name:: THE GROTTO AT JORDANS NGR ST 3388 1601
Statutory Address 1:: THE GROTTO AT JORDANS NGR ST 3388 1601

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

Location

Statutory Address:: THE GROTTO AT JORDANS NGR ST 3388 1601

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

District:: Somerset (Unitary Authority)
Parish:: Ashill
National Grid Reference:: ST3388216013

Details

ASHILL

1627/2/12 JORDANS 14-JUN-02 THE GROTTO AT JORDANS, NGR ST 3388 1601

II*

Grotto/summer-house. Dated 1828. Stone rubble with freestone dressings. Thatched roof, gabled at front and half-hipped at rear. PLAN: Rectangular on plan, containing three circular cells, the larger central room has a doorway at the front and projects at the back in a bow; the smaller flanking cells are aviaries, each with a fountain at the centre and nesting boxes in the walls. Picturesque Gothic Revival style. EXTERIOR: Single storey. Symmetrical gabled west front with pointed arch windows to left and right with stained glass leaded panes, cage grilles and internal shutters and cills with slots for feeding trays; central pointed arch doorway with later C19 Gothic stone porch with polygonal piers and pointed arch canopy and three diamond-shape windows above also with leaded stained glass panes. Left and right [north and south] sides have similar pointed arch windows to those at front. Rear [east] bowed at centre and with small pointed arch shuttered openings under eaves to left and right. Copper lantern with stained glass leaded panes and conical dome with flying-fish weather-vane on top. INTERIOR: Three circular cells with domed ceilings, the larger centre room lined in minerals, fossils, corals, sea-shells and with two engraved mirrors, the cornice made up of fan- and tree-corals, the floor made of sheep's knuckle-bones set on end with date 1828 and with stone table at centre and bench at back with woven seat. Pointed arch doorways to aviaries left and right lined in patterns of sea-shells and with nesting holes for canaries, the window reveals with integral shutters, the cills with feeding trays and the floor having a small pool at the centre with a fountain operated from a pump outside. The domed ceiling of the central room has been restored around the drum of the lantern. NOTE: The Grotto was built by the Speke family of Jordans, in the landscaped gardens of which it is situated, on a promontory in the lake. John Speke was the Victorian explorer who discovered the source of the Nile. The house, Jordans, was demolished in the 1960s. This is a remarkably fine example of a country house garden grotto/summer-house. SOURCE: Buildings of England, p.201.

Listing NGR: ST3388216013

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:: 263916
Legacy System:: LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: South and West Somerset, (1958), 201

Legal

This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.