Castle House is a house in

Bridgwater Bridgwater is a large historic market town and civil parish in Somerset, England. Its population currently stands at around 41,276 as of 2022. Bridgwater is at the edge of the Somerset Levels, in level and well-wooded country. The town lies alon ...

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. Castle House is associated with two important Sedgemoor families, the Boards and the Ackermans; John Board (1802-1861) who extended his family's brick company into cement in 1844, and his grandson William Ackerman who joined the company in 1871 and is credited with the first ‘true’ Portland cement.’ Built in 1851 to resemble a Tudor gatehouse, the construction uses panels of prefabricated

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wi ...

, with significant further usage of concrete throughout the building.

Building

The house was built in 1851 for William Ackerman. Much of the building is made of brick but it was one of the first buildings to make extensive use of

Portland cement Portland cement is the most common type of cement in general use around the world as a basic ingredient of concrete, mortar, stucco, and non-specialty grout. It was developed from other types of hydraulic lime in England in the early 19th c ...

for pre-cast

. The house is two storeys high and designed to look like an ornate Tudor gatehouse. Bays to the sides of the building form stairwells. The building includes many ornamental, and some structural uses of concrete demonstrating "an innovative interpretation of traditional masonry features in concrete". It was designated as a 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 ...

on 16 December 1974. Inside, the building includes more concrete features, such as the staircase, the handrails and the window frames.

Renovation

Castle House was a finalist in the 2nd BBC television series

Restoration Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to: * Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage ** Audio restoration ** Film restoration ** Image restoration ** Textile restoration * Restoration ecology ...

in 2004 and was supported by friends of

Joe Strummer John Graham Mellor (21 August 1952 – 22 December 2002), known professionally as Joe Strummer, was a British singer, musician and songwriter. He was the co-founder, lyricist, rhythm guitarist and co-lead vocalist of punk rock band the Clash, ...

. It is included in the Heritage at Risk Register produced by

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

, and English Heritage provided funding for the restoration project. In 2012 a grant of £300,000 was made by

NNB Generation Company Nuclear New Build Generation Company (NNB GenCo) is a subsidiary created by EDF Energy to build and then operate two new nuclear power stations in the United Kingdom. The new plants are to be Hinkley Point C and Sizewell C and will eventually prod ...

(part of

Électricité de France Électricité de France S.A. (literally ''Electricity of France''), commonly known as EDF, is a French multinational electric utility company, largely owned by the French state. Headquartered in Paris, with €71.2 billion in revenues in 2 ...

) as part of monies paid to the local community for the development of Hinkley Point C nuclear power station to the SAVE Trust for the restoration of Castle House. It is planned to transfer the building to the Bridgwater carnival once restoration is complete. In 2018 the scaffolding was finally removed as restoration of the facade was completed. Planning permission to convert the building into three flats had been obtained.

References

{{reflist Houses completed in 1851 Grade II* listed buildings in Sedgemoor Bridgwater Structures on the Heritage at Risk register in Somerset Grade II* listed houses in Somerset 1851 establishments in England