The Merchant's House at Number 8, Market Place, Shepton Mallet,

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 around 1675 and has been 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 ...

. The date of construction was confirmed by dendrochronology.

History

The Merchant's House was built by Edward Strode (''c.'' 1629–1703), a wealthy landowner, to be tenanted. (Edward was a son of Colonel

William Strode William Strode (1598 – 9 September 1645) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons variously between 1624 and 1645. He was one of the Five Members whose impeachment and attempted unconstitutional arrest by King Charles I in ...

, a Parliamentarian officer and

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

.) Shepton Mallet was then a wealthy town on the back of the wool trade so the south range of the house was almost certainly built for a wool merchant. The north was two tenements with two shop units. When Strode died the house was bequeathed to his daughters with the condition that £8 per year (about £ today) be used to finance a charitable donation of bread to feed the local poor. It passed out of the Strode family in 1756. In the 20th century the house suffered serious neglect and vandalism. Since 2004 the building has been renovated with around 5% funding from

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 Mendip Council, receiving the William Stansell/SBPT Building Award from the

Somerset Buildings Preservation Trust The Somerset Buildings Preservation Trust (SBPT) works to save the architectural heritage of Somerset, England. The Trust is an independent body and consists of up to 18 Trustees who hold Board meetings 3 times a year. It is a Building Preserv ...

in 2008. In 2009 the renovation was recognised with a special award from Mendip Council. The restoration and conservation included 80 new leaded lights and 27 new metal casements. The work undertaken was shown in a programme of the BBC2 series ''Restore to Glory''. The building was in a parlous state prior to work and was included on both national and regional buildings at risk registers.

References

{{reflist, 33em Houses completed in 1675 Grade II* listed buildings in Mendip District Buildings and structures in Mendip District Shepton Mallet Grade II* listed houses in Somerset 1675 establishments in England