Description

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SHEPTON MALLET
BOWLISH
COOMBE LANE (East side)
15 and 16

(Formerly listed as 14 AND 16, COOMBE LANE, previously listed as: 16, COOMBE LANE, formerly listed as: 14, 15 AND 16, COOMBE LANE)

20-MAY-1952

II
House, now two dwellings. Dating from c1700 with C18 alterations. Attached to the north side of No. 16 Coombe Lane is a late-C20 addition which is now a separate dwelling (No. 14) that is not of special interest.

MATERIALS: the house is built of rubble, possibly Forest Marble that is rendered, with dressed quoins to the front range (No. 15). The roofs are covered with double Roman tiles and there are brick gable end chimneystacks to No. 15 and to the rear wing (No. 16).

PLAN: a two-storey, lobby-entrance house with attics (No. 15) and a rear wing (No. 16) that is parallel with the road. To the rear of No. 15 is a later addition with a catslide roof.

EXTERIOR: the entrance front (No. 15) faces south and has a central doorway with a stone square-headed surround with bolection mouldings. The timber hood is later in date and is supported by acanthus leaf enriched stone scroll brackets. The entrance is flanked by a window to each side, set in moulded stone architraves. To the far left is a small single-storey lean-to. There is similar fenestration to the first floor, all containing C19 eight/eight sash windows with glazing bars, with the exception of one two-light moulded mullion window with side-hung casements above the door. Additionally there are two dormer windows with casements. The gabled wing to the rear (No. 16) contains further mullioned windows, some with moulded cornices, though some of the windows have been replaced in the C20.

INTERIOR: No. 15 was not inspected internally (2010). No. 16 which was originally the rear wing of the house and probably contained the service rooms, has undergone internal modernisation, but retains several ceiling beams and a fireplace with bolection-moulded surround to the ground floor.

HISTORY: until the C19, industry in Shepton Mallet was focused around wool and silk. The hamlet of Bowlish was a separate suburb of Shepton in the post-medieval period, though it may have had earlier origins. In the late C17 and early C18 a number of large clothiers' houses were erected there and the hamlet became a suburb or country retreat for the wealthy citizens of the town. Although the building was originally a single dwelling, it was later sub-divided into three separate houses and is depicted as such on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1888.

SOURCES: N. Pevsner, Buildings of England - North Somerset and Bristol (1990), 145
Mendip District Council, Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Proposals, Shepton Mallet (2007)

REASON FOR DESIGNATION: Nos. 15 and 16 Coombe Lane, an early-C18 house which has been subdivided into two dwellings, is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Architectural interest: a house of c1700 with a restrained Classical frontage demonstrating some architectural pretension
* Intactness: the exterior is largely unaltered and demonstrates significant architectural interest
* Fabric: it preserves a significant proportion of historic fabric in a range of local vernacular building materials

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26310522

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  England's Post-War Listed Buildings
• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House