The Cloisters, Southside, And North Side The Cloisters. Southside Cottage And Stables Of The Cloisters

Detached house, now three houses: The Cloisters, Southside, and North side. Early and late 19th century with 20th century alterations.

The Cloisters is the principal structure, constructed in the early 19th century in the Gothic manner. Built in limestone ashlar with slate roofs, it forms a low two-storey compact block with a complex interlocking plan. The entrance front features a set-back central entrance beneath a veranda, with a broad canted forward wing to the right. A Gothic stone veranda with quatrefoil Batty Langley columns supports moulded pointed arches, alternately wide and narrow, beneath a balustrade of pierced panels. The lean-to roof is partly finished in 20th century glazing and partly slate, with light wrought iron brackets.

Windows throughout are stone mullioned casements, some with pointed heads. The entrance front has three two-light windows with small panes and stopped drips above, two two-light windows with pointed heads and stops, and a pair of glazed doors beneath a four-centred arch set on steps, with a canted veranda over the door. The left side features a fine ashlar eaves stack with cusped panelling but no shafts. To the right, a splayed-corner bay contains a two-light window with drip above a three-light window with four-centred heads and drip, beneath a hipped roof. The return to the left includes a broad canted bay with two-light casements and drips. Under the veranda are pairs of glazed doors with sidelights and transom lights to four-centred arches.

The rear south front has two wide-spaced two-light small-pane casements above a central three-light window with transom, flanked by similar doors. A broad stack base is centred to the eaves, formerly with high shafts. The south return of the veranda is similar but with alternate very narrow bays featuring cusped tracery to the heads and arcading toward the garden side.

On the west side, overlooking a small interior courtyard toward Southside, a projecting gabled Gothick bay contains a tall stair light in painted wood with a four-centred head, above a deep one:three:one-light window with central transom and coloured glass.

Southside is attached to the west side of The Cloisters, constructed around 1870 in ashlar and slate in two parts. It is styled in simple Tudor manner with steep pitched roofs and coped gables, rising three storeys with stone mullioned casements.

The principal front to the south features a high gabled wing with a set-back return range to the gable on the left, attached to a further broad and deep gabled range. The wide gabled range to the left has a ventilation slit above a moulded string, a three-light window above two three-light windows under a common drip course. A recessed centre contains three and four-light casements, two with segmental heads. To the left, a glazed door with transom light has been inserted; to the right, a wide four-centred arch spans a blocked recess, possibly a former doorway.

The right gable has a ventilation slit above a three-light window with transom, and a two-storey canted bay with crenellated parapet on deep casements with transom, featuring two:two:two lights at first floor and one:three:one at ground floor. This abuts The Cloisters. To the left of the set-back section stands a deep stack with six shafts. The west return has an eaves stack with four cropped octagonal shafts and two and three-light casements, extended with a wall enclosing the courtyard.

The courtyard front features various lean-to additions and a recessed section. The main coped gable has a ventilation slit above a moulded string, then a three-light window above two three-light windows under common drip, plus a door to a long wooden escape stair. The ground floor has a pair of doors with deep transom light, and one and two-light plain sashes. The courtyard contains stone slabs and a large water storage tank below.

North side is a small single-storey wing projecting north between the other two properties. Facing The Cloisters to the east are two stone mullioned casements and a crenellated parapet. The east side has a hipped slate roof with two-light casements and a recessed doorway. A large ashlar stack stands at the courtyard end.

The Cloisters is among the earliest buildings on the outskirts of Bath from the late 18th or early 19th century executed in the Gothic manner. The original Gothic Revival building is of considerable interest, though somewhat diminished in visual impact by the scale of the later additions.