The Abbey, Ditcheat (formerly known as The Priory) is a large house at

Ditcheat Ditcheat is a village and civil parish south of Shepton Mallet, and north-west of Castle Cary, in the Mendip district of Somerset, England. Besides the village, the parish has four hamlets: Wraxall, Lower Wraxall, Alhampton and Sutton. History ...

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

. Originally a rectory, now converted into a house, the Grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

dates from the 15th century. To the rear of the Abbey is a Grade II listed granary.

House

The Abbey was built as the

rectory A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or ministers of religion. Residences of this type can have a variety of names, such as manse, parsonage, rectory or vicarage. Function A clergy house is typically ow ...

John Gunthorpe John Gunthorpe (died 1498) was an English administrator, Clerk of the Parliament, Keeper of the Privy Seal and Dean of Wells. Education and career Gunthorpe was a student at Cambridge University and had already entered into the clergy and rece ...

who was rector of Ditcheat and Dean of Wells, in 1473. The house was altered in 1667 for Christopher Coward; and given a new facade and rearranged internally in 1864–68, probably by

James Piers St Aubyn James Piers St Aubyn (6 April 1815 – 8 May 1895), often referred to as J P St Aubyn, was an English architect of the Victorian era, known for his church architecture and confident restorations. Early life St Aubyn was born at Powick Vicarag ...

for Rev. William Leir. The building is constructed of rubble stone, dressed with freestones. The roof is tiled with stone tiles, there are stone

finial A finial (from '' la, finis'', end) or hip-knob is an element marking the top or end of some object, often formed to be a decorative feature. In architecture, it is a small decorative device, employed to emphasize the Apex (geometry), apex of a d ...

s and grouped

ashlar Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitruv ...

chimneystacks. Originally set out as a

hall house The hall house is a type of vernacular house traditional in many parts of England, Wales, Ireland and lowland Scotland, as well as northern Europe, during the Middle Ages, centring on a hall. Usually timber-framed, some high status examples wer ...

, but changed later to form an L-shaped floorplan. The building is two storeys high, with four gables on the frontage, two smaller triangular ones and two larger ogee headed ones. The exterior is now mostly his

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literature ...

neo-Tudor Tudor Revival architecture (also known as mock Tudor in the UK) first manifested itself in domestic architecture in the United Kingdom in the latter half of the 19th century. Based on revival of aspects that were perceived as Tudor architecture ...

; inside there are reused fragments and some original 15th- and 17th-century work –

coffered ceilings A coffer (or coffering) in architecture is a series of sunken panels in the shape of a square, rectangle, or octagon in a ceiling, soffit or vault. A series of these sunken panels was often used as decoration for a ceiling or a vault, also ...

and the arch-braced roof of the ‘chapel wing’, but most of the elaborate Gothic work dates from the 1860s. It was designated a Grade II*

on 2 June 1961.

Granary

At the rear of the Abbey, there is a square 18th century granary, built round a

timber-frame Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden ...

, with brick filled between the wood. The roof is pyramid shaped, tiled and ends in stone tiles. The granary was designated Grade II listed status on 25 February 1988.

References

External links

Record on Somerset Historic Environment Register
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abbey, Ditcheat Buildings and structures completed in 1473 Houses completed in the 15th century Grade II* listed buildings in Mendip District Country houses in Somerset Grade II* listed houses in Somerset

House

Granary

References

Further reading

External links