Catherston Manor Farmhouse

Catherston Manor Farmhouse is a country house, dating to the late 16th century, with later alterations and additions, and now divided into separate properties. It is situated within its own grounds. A date stone, JBSB 1887, appears on the south porch gable. A late 16th-century tower porch, originally part of the former manor house, survives forming the east end of the south front. The architect is not known.

The building is constructed of lias stone ashlar with a slate roof, featuring gable ends and four gables to the south front. Two stacks are visible from the south, built of stone with moulded cornices. The plan features a long south front with two rear wings.

The south elevation is two and a half storeys high, with eight bays. Bays 2, 4, 6 and 7 project forward. Windows have stone mullions of varying lights, hollow chamfered with high transoms, and returned labels above. Most windows have straight heads, though the attic windows have four-centred heads. Bay 2 incorporates a canted bay window to the ground floor, topped with an openwork parapet. Bay 4 features a two-storey porch, which has a front doorway with a four-centred head and moulded stone jambs. A two-leaf wooden door has blind panel tracery. Above the doorway is a square oriel window with blind panelling, and a four-light mullion-and-transom window with four-centred heads. The porch has clasping octagonal buttresses with moulded stage divisions. Bay 6 incorporates a square, ground-floor bay window with an openwork parapet. Bay 7 has two small canted oriels with mullions and stone capping. Bay 8 is a mid-to-late 16th-century tower constructed in grey ashlar limestone. It has a tall entrance with moulded jambs and an elliptical arch, with a string course breaking over. A square blind panel features rope moulding. A three-light Ham stone window with four-centred heads is positioned above. The tower is gabled to the south, with two finials at the kneelers. This porch was dismantled and re-erected on its present site during the Victorian period.

The overall design incorporates an openwork quatrefoil parapet with barley-sugar finials at the kneelers. Three griffins holding shields are positioned at the apex and kneelers of the porch gable.

The interior includes an early 18th-century staircase with square newels, turned balusters, and close strings. A late 19th-century stone fireplace is located in the hall.

The style of the house is reminiscent of the early 16th-century prodigy houses of Dorset and Somerset, such as Clifton Maybank.