Banwell Abbey The Cloisters

ST 45 NW BANWELL EAST STREET (north side)

5/20 Banwell Abbey and The Cloisters 9.2.61 G.V. II*

2 houses, formerly one bishop's residence constructed within or on site of monastic foundation. C14 and perhaps earlier, C15 and major reworkings in early and late C19. (Hans Price, 1870). Rubble, ashlar, slate roofs. Main block; 6 windows between buttresses, 3 storeys, 4 in west tower, middle bay breaks forward; mixed fenestration some 2 light mullioned under pointed dripmoulds, some square headed; some sashes some casements; the whole battlemented, central pediment bears crozier, end buttresses surmounted by finials; 3 stage polygonal tower to. left with single pointed lights gargoyles and battlements; parallel range has 2 embattled gables, a round headed entrance under an embattled, gabled porch and 2 light windows under drips; in east gable is a substantial fragment of a large perpendicular window. Various single storey rear outbuildings, all gabled. Interior is a superb Victorian pastiche with a double height hall with large dog leg staircase, ornate plastered rooms with flat arch fireplaces, some of C16 origin. Former chapel and cloister; to right (east)of main block the former chapel now has 2 storeys, at east end is a 3 light window of the C14 above C20 plain chamfered surround windows, to south an embattled tower with single lights and a porch in the re-entrant angle. C19 single storey wing which runs north from former chapel has cusped 3 light windows and a pointed arch entrance below battlements and between buttresses with finials. Interior contains remnants of the cloister walk with 2 light C15 cusped windows. (Source: N. Pevsner, The Buildings of England : North Somerset and Bristol, 1958).

Listing NGR: ST4002259136