Description

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

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17534402

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

• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects, Supplement 2014
• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Gloucestershire 1: The Cotswolds: Cotswolds Pt. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects by Harwood, Richard (2012) Paperback