Walls, turrets and gateway to east forecourt of Montacute House

Montacute House, The Borough, TA15 6XP

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Overview

Heritage Category:
Listed building
List Entry Number:
1252025
Date first listed:
19-Apr-1961
Statutory Address:
Montacute House, The Borough, TA15 6XP
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Location

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:
Listed building
List Entry Number:
1252025
Date first listed:
19-Apr-1961
Date of most recent amendment:
27-Oct-1987
Statutory Address 1:
Montacute House, The Borough, TA15 6XP

Location

Statutory Address:
Montacute House, The Borough, TA15 6XP

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

District:
Somerset (Unitary Authority)
Parish:
Montacute
National Grid Reference:
ST5000017143

Details

ST4917
7/129

MONTACUTE CP
THE BOROUGH (North side, off)
Walls, turrets and gateway to east forecourt of Montacute House

(formerly listed as Pair of Garden Houses and walls of east forecourt at Montacute House)

19.4.61

GV
I
Enclosing elements of forecourt. C16. By William Arnold for Sir Edward Phelips. Ham stone ashlar, cast iron gates. The walling about 3.5 metres high, with about 2m solid ashlar, then open balustrading with copings north and south walls twenty bays, with piers capped with obelisk finials marking each bay, in the fifth bay from the house on each side small gateway with pair C19 cast iron gates, and to the eleventh bay from the house an open circular turret, with moulded flat roof carried on six Doric columns, with groups of flying buttresses over reflecting the ogee roofs of the corner pavilions (q.v), which these walls link to the house. The east wall of the forecourt links these two pavilions, and is of fifteen bays, the centre bay being a wide gateway having tall square piers with frieze band, cornice caps, steps and open globe and point finials, again echoing the pavilions, and with pair C19 cast iron gates: this last gateway replaces the former gate-house, which seems to have been demolished by the late C17.

One of the most impressive features of the original house, the entrance was superseded by the 1785 west front: the forecourt became a garden, later laid out to design of Victoria Sackville-West.

(Girouard M and others, Montacute House, National Trust 1985).


Listing NGR: ST5000017143

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:
434951
Legacy System:
LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Girouard, M et al, Montacute House, (1985)

Other
Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England, Part 37 Somerset,

Legal

Ordnance survey map of Walls, turrets and gateway to east forecourt of Montacute House

Map

This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 04-Jun-2026 at 18:37:25.

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End of official list entry

All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.

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