Bratton Court in the

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

of Bratton within the parish of Minehead Without,

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_ ...

, England was built as a manor house, with a 14th-century open hall and 15th-century solar hall. It is within the

Exmoor Exmoor is loosely defined as an area of hilly open moorland in west Somerset and north Devon in South West England. It is named after the River Exe, the source of which is situated in the centre of the area, two miles north-west of Simonsbath ...

National Park and has been designated as a Grade I

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 ...

. It was enlarged in the 17th century and extensively altered in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It is now a farmhouse divided into 2 dwellings. The gatehouse and the barn at the west end of the courtyard date from the fifteenth century and are also listed as Grade I buildings.

Architecture

Bratton Court was built as a manor house in the fourteenth century, when the open hall was constructed, and fifteenth century when the solar hall was added. Further additions were made in the seventeenth century and considerable alterations were made in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It has a T-shaped plan and is built of rubble stone, now rendered, with slate roofs, large stone chimney stack to the left of the entrance and a smaller one to the right. The main block is two storeys high with nineteenth century casement windows. It is a three cell unit with an open hall, with one bay to the left of the wooden entrance porch and two bays to the right. A cross passage is orientated north and south, and there is a solar wing to the east; this wing was at one time thought to have been the chapel but is now recognised as the solar. It has a featureless ground floor while the first floor has three pairs of jointed

cruck A cruck or crook frame is a curved timber, one of a pair, which support the roof of a building, historically used in England and Wales. This type of timber framing consists of long, generally naturally curved, timber members that lean inwards and ...

trusses, one of which is fully arch braced. There is a chamfered pointed arched opening in the east gable wall, another opening to the left, and a chamfered lintel over the fireplace. The stone

mullion A mullion is a vertical element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. It is also often used as a division between double doors. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid supp ...

windows are irregularly arranged; some have trefoil heads with pierced spandrels showing a foliage design while others have cusped heads. On the rear of the building beside the archway is a single storey, slated roof extension with a chimney stack which houses a bread oven. The interior of the house has been much altered, but there is the remains of an aisle post near the entrance, forming the jam of a door-frame that once separated the servants quarters, and another, octagonal aisle post with splayed plinth and four curved braces at the south end of the house. The upper storey has seven pairs of arch braced collar beam trusses which are smoke-blackened in the roof space. Bratton Court was designated as a Grade I

on 22 May 1969. At the time of listing, the building was in use as a farmhouse and had been divided into two dwellings. The associated gatehouse and barn which abut the west end of the court date from the fifteenth century and are also designated as Grade I buildings. In 2002 a planning application was submitted to convert the stables into a cafe, craft centre, smokery and offices.

References

{{Authority control Houses completed in the 14th century Grade I listed buildings in West Somerset Grade I listed houses in Somerset

Architecture

See also

References