Court House

Details

SOUTH PETHERTON CP ST JAMES'S STREET (East side) ST4317 6/158 Nos 48 and 50 (Court House) 19.4.61

GV II*

Detached house, later subdivided. C16 and C17, extended C18, with other modifications. Ham stone, mostly ashlar; Welsh slate roofs with coped gables to north crosswing, otherwise plain gabled; stone chimney stacks. 'T'-plan with additions; 2 storeys, 6 bay west elevation. Bay 1 is the medieval crosswing, projecting for 3 bays, and features an angled 2-storey bay window, probably C18, with small-pane sash windows of 12+18+12 panes to both levels, with moulded cills, cornice heads, pilaster strips, with stepped hipped stone roof over, and crowned with a pair of barley-sugar-twist chimneys: return has two 3-light hollow-chamfer mullioned windows in chamfered recesses without labels, rectangular-leaded, to first floor; and below, to bay 1 an early sash window of 32 panes with thick glazing bars, having hood and all to match the bay window; bay 2 has a similar opening without hood, with later 12-pane sash window, and between is a beaded surround doorway, now blocked. Bay 2 is a gabled projection with finial; below is a blocked segmental-arched opening with segmental-relieving arch over, and above is a 3-light hollow-chamfer mullioned window in wave-mould recess with label, rectangular-leaded; against the return a late C20 lean-to porch. The remaining 4 bays are a C18 wing, with plinth, moulded eaves course, and in centre of ridge a moulded cornice base and two octagonal stone chimneys with moulded caps; to ground floor are 12-pane sash windows and above are tall 24-pane sashes, all having recessed architraves and moulded cills; to right of bay 4 a plain boarded door in heavy frame. Extending forwards from the south-west corner a single-storey building (no 46) not of special interest. Set well back from the road a further extension northwards, of 2 storeys, one bay. Interior not seen, but the C18 wing is reported to have original corner-fireplaces, moulded p1asterwork, and an apparently C18 staircase in the bay between the crosswing and the south wing; the crosswing has C17 and C18 panelling, and dividing partitions of timber frames with daub filling on horizontal rods, deep chamfered beams without steps, two 4-centre-arched doorways; roof trusses mostly renewed but one smoke-blackened collar truss survives. This house probably served as the court house from 1540, but although the arrangement of the upper room of the south wing suggests a first-floor courtroom with separate access on south side, the courts appear to have been held in the Crown Inn, in the Square, by the C18. (VCH, Vol III, l974; VAG Report, unpublished SR0, l976).

Listing NGR: ST4321217051

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

264243

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Page, W, The Victoria History of the County of Somerset, (1974)
Vernacular Architecture Group Report in Vernacular Architecture Group Report, (1976)

End of official list entry

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