Chew Court

Chew Court is a house that is said to have been one of the country residences of the Bishops of Bath and Wells. It originated in the 14th or 15th century and underwent substantial alterations and additions throughout the 17th, early 18th, and particularly the 19th and 20th centuries.

The building is constructed of sandstone rubble with limestone dressings and a plain tiled roof with ridge and gable stacks. It is arranged in an L-plan formed by a north range and east range, with a gatehouse positioned to the south east.

The south front is two storeys and six bays. The left two bays, beneath a gable end with raised coped verges and kneelers, contain at ground floor two 6-light mullion and transom windows with ovolo moulding, hood mould and relieving arch of 19th-century date, and two 3-light windows at first floor with 4-centred arched heads, hood mould, relieving arch and a lancet above. To the right stands a 20th-century door in an ovolo-moulded surround with hood mould, flanked by two similar 6-light windows, with a single light above the door featuring a cusped trefoil head and shield inset, and three similar 3-light windows under the eaves. In the angle of the L-plan sits a single-storey porch of late 17th or early 18th-century date with pilasters on pedestals, a frieze with strapwork, keystone and cornice, and a 4-centred arched door with shields in the spandrels.

The east wing contains at ground floor two 3-light casements with ovolo mullions and 20th-century leaded lights, a blocked central window, and at first floor three 3-light windows as on the south front, with a carved head serving as a corbel under the eaves to the left, probably reset. The attached gatehouse at ground floor is open and has a 4-centred arch of two chamfered orders with small lancets on each side, and two 3-light casements with ovolo mullions at first floor. The right return of the gatehouse has a small single light at first floor and a stone rainwater chute.

The rear of the gatehouse, formerly the front entry, displays a 4-centred arch with roll-mouldings, shields and trefoils in the spandrels, a heavy moulded outer surround and hood mould with shield stops, and two similar 2-light casements at first floor. Half-octagonal angle turrets flank each side with small single lights at first floor, a cornice across the whole front, parapet and coping, and embattled turrets. The ground floor interior has a 3-bay ceiling with heavy roll and hollow moulded tie-beams and common rafters, plus a 19th-century Gothic stone fireplace with dentil cornice and carved frieze.

The gable end of the east wing features at ground floor a 2-light ogee-headed stone window with shields on the lintel and 19th-century hood mould, a 2-light 19th-century window at first floor, and an attic level window as on the front. The left return of the north wing has a 20th-century glazed door to the right and a round-headed single light under the eaves. Attached to the left, formerly a west range, extends a rubble wall approximately 17 metres west and 15 metres south, about 2½ metres high, with coping and a moulded 4-centred arched door opening with trefoils in the spandrels.

The rear of the north wing has gable ends to left and right across 4 bays. To the left at ground floor stands a 3-light casement with ovolo mullions, hood mould and relieving arch, a 3-light casement at first floor and a lancet above, with a similar bay to the right end without the lancet. The centre bays contain at ground floor two 6-light casements with ovolo mullions and a central 2-light ogee-headed window with shields and hood mould, and two 3-light casements under the eaves, all of 19th-century date.

The rear of the east wing spans 5 bays. Ground floor has four 2-light casements with ovolo mullions, hood mould and relieving arch, while first floor has five 19th-century 3-light casements as on the front, with a central gable containing a 2-light trefoil-headed window, raised coped verges and a stack.

The interior has been much remodelled in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. Two ground floor rooms in the north wing have stone bolection-moulded fireplaces with mantels on acanthus brackets. The east wing contains heavy deep chamfered beams and a framed ceiling in six panels. The roof of the gatehouse spans four bays with principal rafters, arched-braces, cambered collars, one row of purlins with chamfered windbraces in the lower tier, a ridge purlin, moulded wall-plate and shields as corbels. A stone newel stair is present. The room over the gatehouse is said to have been used as a court-room, while the turrets were used for holding prisoners.