Sham Castle is a Grade II* listed building in the Bath and North East Somerset local planning authority area, England. First listed on 1 February 1956. Folly.

Sham Castle

WRENN ID
eastward-bastion-stoat
Grade
II*
Local Planning Authority
Bath and North East Somerset
Constituency
Bath MP: Wera Hobhouse (LD)
Country
England
Date first listed
1 February 1956
Type
Folly
Address
Sham Castle, North Road, Bathampton
OS grid reference
ST 766 648
Coordinates
51.38231, -2.33752
Source
Historic England listing

Also on this page: flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

Sham Castle is a Gothick folly built in 1762 by Richard James, a master mason, for Ralph Allen to enhance the view from Allen's town house in Bath. It is believed to have been designed by Sanderson Miller around 1755. The structure is made of coursed squared rubble and features battlements. It has a screen wall with a central pointed arch, flanked by two three-storey circular turrets, and extends to two-storey square towers at each end. The castle includes blocked lancet windows and plain and cross-loop openings, with a plaque in the center.

Local climate

Sham Castle receives an average of 850 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 59% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 63% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 33 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 55% of listed buildings. Of these, 14 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.

Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.

More on this building

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  • Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
  • Flood risk assessment
  • Radon risk assessment
  • Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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