Birdcombe Court and Birdcombe Court Farmhouse

Details

ST 47 SE WRAXALL TOWER HOUSE LANE (south-west side)

3/193 Birdcombe Court and Birdcombe 13.10.52 Court Farmhouse - II*

Manor or court house. Probably C14, altered and extended mid - late C15 (tower and south wing), C17 and early - mid C19 (probably c.1834). Rendered - pantiled and double Roman tiled roofs, hipped to the left with a moulded cornice; rendered stacks. A T-plan building, formerly with an open hall to the north and a solar cross-wing to the south; later extensions to each side. The front elevation is dominated by the highly unusual 5-stage porch and stair-tower: probably mid - late C15, although the upper stages terminating in an ogee-domed lead roof are probably later; 2-stage buttress with off-sets to either side of a wide 4-centred archway which has a double ogee moulded surround; the second and third stages have 2-light windows with hollow chamfered mullions and cusped heads, above are 2-light windows in hollow surrounds; the porch has a tierceron vault with heraldic bosses (possibly the Courtenay and Perceval families) and springing on male and female heads in C15 head-dresses; further, partly blocked, wide 4-centred arch to north; the front door to the cross passage is off-set and has a moulded and pointed surround and a hoodmould with diamond stops. To the left of the tower is the 2 storey, single bay end of the cross wing: 2:3:2- light C19 bay window on the ground floor with gothick cusped pointed lights; 4-light cross window on the first floor in ovolo moulded surrounds and mullions. To the right of the tower is an early - mid C19 extension: 3 storeys, two 3-light casement windows with wooden cusped tracery heads and under dripmoulds. The south elevation of the cross-wing has 4 buttresses with off-sets: 3 bays; to the east is a 2-light window, in the centre a single light window both with cinquefoil heads; to the west is a C19 bay window with cusped lights on the ground floor and above is a 2-light window with a hollow moulded surround and pointed heads. Setback to the west is a C17 - C18 extension: rubble, 2 storeys; 3 bays, 2- and 3-light casement windows (one chamfered on the first floor); central projecting C20 porch flanked by buttresses which support a gable. At the far left (west) is a projecting 2-storey wing (formerly a barn): two 2- and 3-light casement windows and a central C20 door. Interior. Cross passage with a gallery above: to the south wing are two doorways with chamfered surrounds and 4-centred heads; the head beam of the screen survives, and is moulded with an embattled upper edge; rear doorway is plain chamfered and has a 2-centred head; beyond the rear door is a small room (possibly formerly having a stairway) with a 2-centred, hollow-step-ogee moulded doorway. Hall: inserted late C16/early C17 fireplace; raised cruck truss with an arch-braced, cambered collar beam (windbraces removed). Tower: the doorway to the first stage has an ogee-hollow moulded surround and a 4-centred head; chamfered fire surround in first room; newel stair; stop-chamfered surrounds to doors on second and third stages. South or cross wing was formerly 2 rooms (now subdivided into 3, with the west one being in Birdcombe Farmhouse: C19 stair; first floor west room has a hollow-ogee moulded stone doorway and a fireplace with a moulded surround and mantelshelf; the room below has hollow-double ogee moulded beams; the roof has 4 arch-braced collar beam trusses (the principals have curved feet as raised crucks), butt purlins and 2 tiers of windbraces, (the lower one with incised cusping), embattled wall plate. (N. Pevsner, The Buildings of England : North Somerset and Bristol, 1958. M.R. Bismanis and N. Cooper Archaeological Journal, 134, 1977. E.H.D. Williams and R.G. Gilson, Unpublished Report, Somerset and South Avon Vernacular Architecture, 1980).

Listing NGR: ST4793071894

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

33584

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: North Somerset and Bristol, (1958)
Archaeological Journal in Archaeological Journal, (1977)
Williams, E H D, Report of the Somerset Vernacular Architecture Group in Report of the Somerset Vernacular Architecture Group, ()

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