The Chantry

Details

ILMINSTER

ST3414 COURT BARTON 1939-1/6/21 (West side) 23/09/50 The Chantry

GV II*

Chantry/priest's house, now a house. Mid C15, extended to rear in early C18 and altered c1860. Roughly-coursed Moolham stone with slate roof, stepped stone copings and brick stacks to gable ends and lateral stacks flanking the door. L-shape plan: former kitchen to rear wing; front range has, from the left, buttery, screen passage, hall and parlour; early C18 rear left wing connected by an early C18 two-storey stairhall and a single-storey lean-to. EXTERIOR: 2 storeys; 5-window range. All windows to the front (east) are 6/6-pane sashes with horns, in smooth ashlar surrounds with rolled edges and moulded sills; 5 to the first floor, 4 to the ground floor, except for one small C15 slit window between the pair to first-floor right. C19 door to left of centre, has vertical Gothic-style panels with a small inserted window to the top, set in a C15 moulded pointed arch. This is flanked by two C15 chimney stacks, stepped forward and offset at eaves level in 2 stages, that to the right has a C19 cream brick shaft, that to the left has an octagonal stone one. The wing to rear left has wide C19 inserted segmental relieving arches to each floor with a tripartite 2/2-pane sash above a 4-light French-window. Rear wing to right has C19 two-light casements to the rear of both floors with an offset buttress over an internal chimmney-stack to the centre. Large central cross-window to stairs at rear of main block. INTERIOR: A very fine and substantially complete C15 interior. Entrance hall, to left of centre, has plank-and-muntin screens to each side, the chamfered muntins have run-out stops, the first 3 inside the door to the right have shields and foliate squares carved out of the chamfers. In the service room to left is a wide fireplace with a shallow pointed-arch Moolham stone lintel, and though the door appears to be C18 six-panel, the back of it shows it to have originally been planked. The hall and service room have flagstone floors. To the right is the original hall, at one time open to the rafters, now ceiled-in; it has a large shallow-pointed-arch Moolham stone lintel to the fireplace on the front (east) wall. To the far right is another room, the parlour, which has deeply-moulded beams to the quartered ceiling, now divided by a passage; a shallow-pointed-arch Moolham stone lintel to the fireplace in the now rear-right corner against the north wall, and a small stone sink to the right, of unknown date, below 2 pointed-arch windows with fixed lights. To rear of the parlour is the kitchen, which has 4 beams with stopped chamfers, a fireplace recess to the rear wall, and an early C18 built-in wall cupboard to the left. The staircase, running from left to right along the rear wall, is early C18, with closed string, swept handrail and turned oak balusters which continue along the landing to the first floor. To the first-floor right, above the parlour, is a chapel with a massive Moolham stone lintel to the fireplace, which has a cavity to the left, said to have been a salt oven. The 6/6-pane sash to the front (east) wall is flanked by stone image brackets; that to the left is still fixed in situ, that to the right is free-standing and has traces of colour in the crevices; to the right of it is a piscina in a pointed-arch recess and to far right (south-east corner) an embrasured slit window; the door to that room is early C17 two-panels, raised and fielded. The wall dividing this end room from the central room is plastered, but the other side of it is exposed plank-and-muntin, with a middle rail; muntins have run-out chamfers to the top and stopped chamfers below, where 4 holes, forming a quatrefoil, have been made and act as a squint into what was once an open hall; the members of this wall are numbered. This room, to first-floor centre, has early C18 six-panel doors with long panels to the top; an early C18 plain stone fireplace with a beaded edge, which has a late C18 wooden surround with a dentilled cornice to the mantel-shelf and a cast-iron ducks'-nest hob grate. The early C18 doors have H or L hinges. The main block has a collar-truss roof with cusped arch bracing and chamfered butt purlins, 3 compartments of 2 bays to the right, 3 bays to the centre with some remaining cusped wind-braces, and 2 bays to the left with cusped arch braces. Compartments are divided by the plank-and-muntin screens which extend vertically through the house. The rear right wing has a C15 arch-brace collar-truss roof; that to the left, late C17/early C18, has 2-bay with collar trusses, trenched purlins and notched apex. HISTORY: The house faces St Catherine's Chantry, founded by John Wadham and built to house the tomb of Sir William Wadham (d.1452). A very fine and substantially complete example of a C15 Somerset chantry priest's house. (Wood M: The English Medieval House: London: 1965-: 197-8).

Listing NGR: ST3598814606

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

383385

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Wood, E, The English Medieval House, (1965), 197-8

End of official list entry

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