Court Farmhouse

Court Farmhouse is an early 19th-century farmhouse in Marksbury, with later additions from the mid-19th century and the second half of the 20th century.

The building is constructed of coursed stone rubble with Bath stone dressings and quoins, beneath a slate roof with raised, coped verges and stone stacks to the gable ends. Additional stacks serve the service wing.

The house was originally L-shaped in plan, comprising a single-depth range running north-east to south-west with a large range at right angles. A dairy wing was added to the rear in the mid-19th century. The second half of the 20th century saw further additions: three-storey and split-level extensions to the rear, including an addition over the former dairy, which are of no special architectural interest.

The principal south-east elevation is two storeys and attics, with large dressed quoins and masonry laid in alternate courses of narrow and wide blocks. A large central porch on square concrete columns, added in the 20th century, stands before a part-glazed six-panel door. The doorway is flanked by sash windows on the ground floor, and three first-floor windows—all six-pane sashes set in Bath stone surrounds—above. The north-east return comprises a large rear range with mostly segmental-headed windows containing three-light casements. Coursed ashlar, probably re-used from an earlier building, marks the position of the central stack. To the rear stands a late-19th-century lean-to of one-and-a-half storeys, a 20th-century three-storey addition to the left, and further additions beyond and north-west, built partly into the hillside and over the former dairy wing, all featuring uPVC windows.

Internally, the farmhouse retains much of its original room arrangement. The entrance hall features a surviving staircase with plain stick balusters and simple turned newel posts. Reception rooms preserve 19th-century joinery including six-panelled doors, architrave, and some window shutters. The large rear range, probably originally a service wing, contains two ground-floor rooms: one now serves as a kitchen, the other retains a large open fireplace with stone surround and a re-used early-17th-century chamfered beam. The first floor has further early-19th-century joinery and several original fireplaces with timber surrounds. The attic rooms display exposed collared trusses with staggered purlins.

Court Farm is believed to have originally formed part of the Hunstrete Estate, a 3,000-acre property that came into the possession of the Popham family in the early 17th century. A survey of 1759 records the land now comprising Court Farm being held by Henry Court. Documentary and map sources indicate a house has stood on the site since at least the mid-18th century, though its position does not correspond with the current building, which first appears on a map of circa 1825. Building analysis suggests the farmhouse principally dates from the early 19th century, though earlier fabric survives—notably an early-17th-century chamfered ceiling beam—indicating the re-use of materials from an earlier structure.

By 1861, Court Farm (then known as Vale Court Farm) was occupied by Joseph Harding (1805–76). Before moving to Court Farm, Harding had in the mid-19th century revolutionised the manufacturing process for Cheddar cheese and introduced higher standards of dairy hygiene, promoting his system nationwide. At Court Farm, Harding undertook a series of improvements to expand the dairy business, including mechanisation and the construction of additional cow houses.

The associated farm buildings stand south-west of the house on lower ground and date principally from the early and mid-19th century.