Gate Piers and Lateral Piers opposite entrance drive to Shapwick Manor
Shapwick Manor, Station Road, Shapwick, Bridgwater, TA7 9NJ
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1473954
- Date first listed:
- 16-Feb-2021
- List Entry Name:
- Gate Piers and Lateral Piers opposite entrance drive to Shapwick Manor
- Statutory Address:
- Shapwick Manor, Station Road, Shapwick, Bridgwater, TA7 9NJ
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Location
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Official list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1473954
- Date first listed:
- 16-Feb-2021
- List Entry Name:
- Gate Piers and Lateral Piers opposite entrance drive to Shapwick Manor
- Statutory Address 1:
- Shapwick Manor, Station Road, Shapwick, Bridgwater, TA7 9NJ
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
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.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
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.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- Shapwick Manor, Station Road, Shapwick, Bridgwater, TA7 9NJ
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- Somerset (Unitary Authority)
- Parish:
- Shapwick
- National Grid Reference:
- ST4181238429
Summary
Gate piers and lateral piers of the late C18 or early C19 associated with Shapwick Manor.
Reasons for Designation
The gate piers and lateral piers opposite the entrance drive to Shapwick Manor which date from the late C18 or early C19 are listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
Architectural quality:
* they are well-made and the accomplished design is well-suited to their setting opposite the entrance to Shapwick Manor.
Group value:
* they form a strong and attractive grouping with the Grade-II listed gate piers and boundary walls opposite, and also group well with Shapwick Manor (Grade II*), its stables (Grade II) and the dovecote (Grade II).
History
The village of Shapwick formerly belonged to Glastonbury Abbey, and the rectoral income from the parish church was assigned to the abbey’s almoner. The almoner's estate was one of two estates in Shapwick and following the Dissolution it was leased by John Berkeley. In the early C17 it was conveyed to William Bull, a wealthy linen merchant, who is said to have been responsible for the construction of the present house, although the building does appear to have earlier origins. At the end of that century it came into the possession of the Strangways family who, over the centuries, enlarged and altered the house. They owned the property until 1944 when it was sold to Lord Vestey. By 1923 the house was known as Down House, but was later renamed Shapwick Manor. A school was established there in the 1970s and it closed in 2020.
The gate piers on the opposite side of the road from Shapwick Manor date probably from the late C18 or early C19 and are stylistically similar to those situated at the principal entrance to the house. A map of 1764 depicts the fields to the north-east and south-east of the gate piers as Horse Park and Gracy respectively, though part of this land has been used as a playing field in more recent times.
The metal railings that originally ran between the gateway and the lateral piers do not survive.
Details
Gate piers and lateral piers of the late C18 or early C19 associated with Shapwick Manor.
DESCRIPTION
A pair of ashlar gate piers with chamfered angles and moulded apex caps, and also two lateral piers, also of ashlar and in a similar style, with cushioned caps. Concrete gate posts have been added between the original gate piers to narrow the gateway; there is no longer a gate.
Sources
Websites
Shapwick in A History of the County of Somerset: Volume 8, the Poldens and the Levels, ed. Robert Dunning, 2004, pp. 160-179. British History Online, accessed 5 January 2021 from https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/som/vol8/pp160-179
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 14-Jun-2026 at 08:27:14.
Download a full scale map (PDF)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.