The Tudor Tavern at No 15 Fore Street,

Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England, with a 2011 population of 69,570. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century monastic foundation, Taunton Castle, which later became a priory. The Normans built a castle owned by the ...

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 , lor ...

, England 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 I ...

. Built in 1578, the house is three storeys high of a timber-frame construction, with jettied first and second floors. The frontage is of carved

bressummer A bressummer, breastsummer, summer beam (somier, sommier, sommer, somer, cross-somer, summer, summier, summer-tree, or dorman, dormant tree) is a load-bearing beam in a timber-framed building. The word ''summer'' derived from sumpter or French ...

s with interlocking curved braces, while the roof is red tiles. There is a medieval hall with an open trussed roof behind the front.

Architecture

The Tudor Tavern, also known as "Ancient House" is located at 15 Fore Street,

. It is a three-storey timbered house with a forward jutting first and second floor. The front is carved with the initials T.T. and I.T. and the year 1578. The high, steep roof is clad with red tiles, the upper part overhanging the 8-light

oriel window An oriel window is a form of bay window which protrudes from the main wall of a building but does not reach to the ground. Supported by corbels, brackets, or similar cantilevers, an oriel window is most commonly found projecting from an upper f ...

on the second floor. The first floor has a nine-light oriel window with further lights on either side making 17 lights altogether. Each of these windows has leaded lights with transomes and

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 sup ...

s. The interior of the house has been largely restored but the medieval hall with its trussed roof and arched braces survives. The cottage at the rear of the Tudor Tavern is part of the same building. It was previously known as Halliday's Shop and can be approached through an archway and narrow court. It is a timber-framed, two-storey building with a single long room below, now used as a bar, and a jettied upper floor. It is said to have been the servants quarters of the town house of the Portmans or Orchard Portman. It is close to another building from the early 17th century at No 18, Fore Street, Taunton. It was Grade I listed in 1952.

History

The property is one of the few buildings of its era to survive in Taunton; research suggests the neighbouring buildings dated from the 16th or 17th century. It was originally used as a clothiers shop, and the owners expanded the property while in business. The clothiers, Thomas and Joan Trowbridge, have their initials (T.T. and I.T.) above the door. The building became a grocer during the 17th century, owned by Thomas Baker, whose daughters were known as the 'maids of Taunton' and were there to welcome

Duke of Monmouth Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ranke ...

when they visited the Taunton. The building remained a grocer through the 19th century, owned by three generations of the Turle family. In the 1870s, the building became an antique dealership, Halliday & Sons. In 2003, it was leased by

Caffè Nero Caffè Nero is an Italian-influenced coffeehouse company headquartered in London, England. Founded in 1997 by Gerry Ford, currently the company runs more than 1,000 coffee houses in eleven countries: the UK, Ireland, Sweden, Poland, Cyprus, Croat ...

and refurbished at a cost of £200,000, after being empty for years.

References

{{reflist, 30em Buildings and structures completed in 1578 Grade I listed buildings in Taunton Deane Buildings and structures in Taunton Former pubs in England Grade I listed pubs in Somerset Shops in England Timber framed buildings in England

Architecture

History

See also

References